Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust
by DarkPoot
Summary: A vintage post-apocalyptic Kanto fic. Mewtwo reigns absolute, and we join our heroes years after the collapse of the last organized resistance. Written eight years ago, with more on the way.
1. Foreword by the Author

Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust

Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust

Foreword

The Internet is good for nothing if not for reckless self-indulgence, so please: indulge me for a moment. This fic is eight years old and has spent a long time offline, so let me collect myself.

I think of every story I write as one of my children: I pour myself into it, and if I have done my job right, then before all is said and done it will be able to stand on its own, meet new people, and enjoy some well-earned independence as it goes off into that wide world. I often compare writing a fanfic to bearing a child into slavery, since no matter how much you love it or how much you put into it, it will never really be your own or its own.

Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust, an 80-page romp through a post-apocalyptic Kanto region, was the first thing of substance that I ever wrote on my own, independent of school and longer than a strained page or two of independent work. The slave-child metaphor is insufficient here; I was going to make another one for you about this being my first baby, the one I had with a woman I shouldn't have married, coming into the world before I was ready for it and yadda yadda yadda. That metaphor didn't work, either, not past that first part at least.

This fic was my first baby. Whatever happens after, your first is your first, and this was a big first. I was fifteen years old when I served up part one of this, and it was the winter of my freshman year of high school. My mother and sisters had gone to the Rockefeller tree-lighting in New York, but I had gone the year before and had no interest in facing those crowds again. Instead, I stayed home and, for several hours, read Ace Sanchez's_Pokemon_ _Master_. I had only discovered fanfiction that fall; Ace blew my impressionable little mind away. I can't remember what school was like the next day, but I remember walking home and thinking about what I would do in my own dark little pokemon world. When I got home – for the first time in my life, it came naturally – I started writing.

I could go on about my first publication on McWizard X's AAMR site, my first reviews, my identity crisis and the fic's deletion, and probably on and on and on. This was groundbreaking for me, but I'm afraid I'm going to lose you if I go on much longer. Suffice it to say that a shy little fifteen-year-old had made something of his own with this fic, put it where others could see it, and found to his tremendous surprise that people liked it. They liked it enough in some cases to offer themselves as proofreaders, to start writing prequels, and even to rip it off.

Writing had been something that I could enjoy when a teacher required it of me. Now, it was something I _did_. The revelation shaped my development through high school, focused my academic pursuits, and led me to my current career.

This is my first baby, boys and girls. This is my first baby, friends and neighbors. He's not the brightest bulb or the sharpest tack, not the strongest or the fastest, but he called me this weekend after eight years and I found that despite it all, I still love him. I apologize for the clichés, for the grammar errors, and for the poor formatting where that is a problem; I apologize for nothing else. To each his Dulcinea, ladies and gentlemen, and this fic was mine once. I have removed my long-winded forwards and comments to maintain a sense of professionalism which I honor now and did not then (this long-winded forward shall have to do). I do not plan to finish this, but merely to republish what I wrote all those years ago. I will post at regular intervals to simulate the original delays between updates. As I've said, the Internet is good for nothing if not for reckless self-indulgence: I have taken this fic from the dungeons of my old floppy disks and put it back where it belongs:

Where people can see it.

-The Gar'En / DarkPoot / Azrobas / NinjaDiner / Jeff


	2. The New Trio

Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust

Part 1: A New Trio

* * *

The reinforced steel gates of Mewtwo's Celadon outpost creaked opened. What looked like an entire armed division marched out, a mix of humans and pokemon lined up according to size from the back and front to the middle. At the very middle, surrounded by hulking Rhydons, a single Kadabra was walking slowly along, its mind incredibly active. The creature was watching over the people and events everywhere within a great distance, controlling their actions and thoughts to a degree. But there was one thing, or rather two people, that the Kadabra had no control over, and for that matter could not sense at all. But they could see it...

The two young men were lying down on the hill, using rocks and bushes for cover. One held a set of binoculars up to his eyes, eagerly watching the company marching below them.

"What do you see?" one asked.

"It's a typical Overseer relocation force. The regional Overseer is in the middle, in between those Rhydons. It's a big force, but if we set off those Electrodes at precisely the right time, it should take him out. Make sure Abra's ready to take us out of here before those troops can retaliate." The other one threw out a pokeball behind them. The small mouse-like pokemon materialized, sitting motionless on the ground.

"Alright, he'll be walking over the trap in a few seconds. On my word, activate them." The one w 

ith the binoculars strained his eyes, anticipating the Kadabra walking over the trap that they had so carefully dug and filled with Electrodes, all set to self-destruct at the push of a button. The other one sat, his finger hot on that same button, waiting to push it the very moment he was told. The Kadabra walked closer to it, closer, closer┘

Suddenly, a shot of gunfire rang out. The two figures on the hilltop panicked and startled, half-scared that they were discovered, and half-scared that Mewtwo's forces now had guns. Apparently, though, neither were true. The Kadabra let out a shriek of pain, then fell to the ground, a pool of blood gathering around it. A figure suddenly ran out of the trees and bushes it had been hiding in, an axe in one hand, a smoking gun in the other.

The man with the binoculars gasped. "Oh my God, he's still alive."

The other one turned to face him. "You know that madman? Well, it doesn't look like he'll be alive much longer, once Mewtwo's backups kick in."

"No, please! Have Abra teleport him up here, or do something! Lord knows we need extra men!"

"Alright, but I'm not making a habit of this. Call me desensitized, but its often better to just let them die." He turned to his tiny psychic pokemon. "Abra, get him out of there."

* * *

"You bastard! You took everything from me!" The man fired another shot, this time at a Rhydon. It wailed and collapsed. "Everything! Show yourself, Mewtwo! Show yourself to the man you've destroyed!" He leapt at a man with his axe, cutting deep into his chest. It was odd, he thought, how they didn't defend themselves, but he had expected this after the Overseer had been taken out. The entire company seemed dazed and confused. They didn't have that cold, emotionless look that they'd worn while they were marching, that look that infuriated him so much. That look that reminded him of Mewtwo. His hatred began to burn down, realizing that these men and pokemon were innocent puppets. He was about to leave in tears of shame, but an all too familiar voice rekindled his hate completely. 

"Do not rush to a confrontation with me, human." It was Mewtwo's voice, exactly. Without even looking where he fired, he shot at the exact source of the sound. A man promptly collapsed, shot right through the head.

"It will take more than a bullet to smite me," the voice continued, this time from behind him. The man turned and shot, this time hitting a Machoke through the heart.

"It will take more than even all your hate." The man turned to meet the voice this time, and saw that it came from a large Golem. The man fired several shots, each bouncing off the Golem's thick stone skin. The Golem began taking large steps toward the man, who, rather than continue fighting, fell to his knees and wept.

"I...I'm sorry. I've failed you all." He wept hard, anticipating the wrath of the Golem. He didn't see the small Abra teleport next to him, then just as quickly teleport them both away. The man continued crying, waiting for the fatal punch. When it didn't come, he looked up to see what mind games Mewtwo was playing with him before he did the final blow. He saw, instead, two men he couldn't recognize through his tears.

"Grab my hand, Todd! We need to get out of here!" Todd, who was too astonished to realize that the man knew his name, offered up his hand. Almost instantly, the scenery around them flashed brightly, then changed into a dank cave.

* * *

Todd wiped the tears out of his eyes. Either this was the afterlife, he thought, or...or..., no there wasn't really anything else this could be. 

"Is this Hell?" he said aloud.

"You're still alive Todd," one of the two men said.

"I should say it's not a far cry from Hell, though," said the other.

"How am I still alive? How'd I get away from the Golem?" Todd paused for a second, realization hitting him. "And how do you know my name?"

The first of the two walked up and looked at his face. "Don't you recognize me, Todd?" Todd looked at the man's face. The man did seem familiar. Todd thought back, eventually hitting a memory.

"Oh my God. Ash? Is that you?" The man smiled and nodded. Yes, of course it was him. His black hair was shorter, and his hat was gone, but it had to be him. "I thought you and the others died with the rest of the Resistance."

"That's almost true." Ash sat down on a rock and stared at the floor. He sighed. "The others are dead. Before you showed up, we hadn't spoken with anybody else in months."

"Oh." Todd knew he sounded stupid, but he couldn't think of anything else to say to this. He turned to the other man. "I don't believe we've met."

The brown haired man was sitting on another rock. "I'm Rich. They used to call me Richy, but it doesn't seem to fit me anymore at 18. And this," he said, waving his hand around the torch-lit cave," is our humble abode. Only accessible through pinpoint teleportation. Have a seat. We have plenty of rocks." Todd noticed he was still kneeling. He got up and sat down on a flat looking rock, one of about 8 arranged in a circle. Rich reached in to the center of the circle and worked up a fire. He sat back and let out a deep breath. "I hope we can get all those Electrodes back. We had our own way of taking out the Overseer, until you decided to go on a suicide mission."

Todd gave Rich a look of mixed anger and sadness. "I have nothing left to live for but retribution against that monster. Mewtwo robbed me of everything. My family. My friends. My home. Everything but the clothes on my back and the heart in my chest."

Ash looked up, still with a look of depression and suffering in his face. "Care to explain yourself?"

Todd sighed. "It hurts to remember, but I suppose I owe it to you. About 5 years ago, I returned home to Lavender Town from my little picture-taking quest. I settled down, reunited with some old friends, resumed my simple role in a simple town. Life was good, until the Psy War. I had driven out to the eastern coastline for a day to myself, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when I returned." He paused, struggling to remember an agonizing memory.

"Dead bodies were everywhere, humans and pokemon. I knew most of them, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part were the survivors, crawling around like mindless animals. Some were naked, some were only clothed because they didn't have enough mental power to figure out how to undress. I had to fight them off, people who I once would have died for, so I could get back out alive." Todd rolled back his sleeve, revealing a small scar. "I swore by my own blood that justice would be done on the monster that did that to them," he paused again, fighting the urge to scream as he said the word," Mewtwo. I've spent every waking moment since then looking for way to kill him, but nothing I've tried works. I decided to take out an Overseer, something he'd notice, so I could challenge him directly. I guess I had no idea what I was getting into."

Rich nodded. "Not by a long shot. He could have gained psychic control over you without so much as lifting a finger."

"I don't know about that. I've stared down his psychics before, and they don't seem to have any effect on me. Not since I got this thing, at least." He fumbled for something in his pocket, drawing out a small metal oval. "I came across some half-dead Resistance guy a while back. He gave me this, and told me to never lose it."

Ash looked it over carefully. "It's a typical Psy Inhibitor. Neutralizes psychic energy within a certain distance. You're luckier than you think; without that, your little war with Mewtwo wouldn't have gone on very long." Ash dug a similar shape out of his pocket. "All Resistance soldiers had them. I assume any other survivors still do."

"So you two are the only Resistance members you know of?"

Ash picked a small stone up from the ground. "Yes, and its us three, if you count Pikachu." Ash threw the stone at a wall, startling a small yellow shape that had been curled up there. "Wake up, we have company."

The small shape walked into the light of the fire, revealing itself. "Pika?"

"No, you don't need to hold up that charade. We can trust him."

The Pikachu looked confused, then shrugged and leapt onto a rock next to Ash. "If you say so."

Todd gave the Pikachu an odd look. "Ash, how can it talk?"

"Please Todd, Pikachu's a he. During the Psy War, all that exposure to psychic energy just kick-started his mind, bringing him up to a human level of intelligence. I'm surprised you haven't found any other talkers; the same thing happened to quite a few pokemon."

"The adverse effect also happened a lot, unfortunately, when heavy exposure to Psychic energy completely short-circuited the mind," Rich added.

Todd scowled. "Just like Lavender town."

Pikachu looked at Ash, eager to change the subject. "How'd it go with the Overseer? I'd hate for those Electrodes to have failed, after all the time I spent programming that detonator."

"Todd took out the Overseer, and we all got out alive. That's all that matters." Ash seemed more like he was apologizing to Pikachu than giving a mission report, but it seemed the apology was not accepted. Pikachu started jumping up and down in anger.

"KA! PI KA CHU! KA CHUUU!" Pikachu erupted, a string of violent Pikachu obscenities. It made a very funny looking scene, causing Rich to laugh out loud. "What the hell are YOU laughing at, chu KA!?" Rich would have stopped laughing on his own right about then, but a strong thundershock stopped him itself. Rich was blasted off the rock he was sitting on, flipping over in the air and landing face-first on the floor of the cave. He was smoking slightly.

"Chu." Pikachu puffed. "I really miss ketchup," he said as he jumped off the rock and scampered to another chamber in the cave.

Todd looked at Rich, still on the floor. "Now that's not something you see everyday."

Ash smiled. "Speak for yourself." He looked at his watch. "Well, I'm going to bed. We can discuss our next move tomorrow morning. We're getting up pretty early." Ash walked off to another part of the cave. Todd stayed up a little longer, staring into the fire, thinking.


	3. Shriek

Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust

Part 2: Shriek

* * *

The Alakazam placed his hand on the DNA-Identification tile next to the reinforced steel door. The door promptly opened, revealing nothing but complete darkness.

"This room always gave me the creeps," he thought to himself. A stream of light went down the middle of the room, revealing a long red carpet. The Alakazam walked to the end of this slowly, kneeling when it reached the end.

"You summoned me, my lord?" He said to the being that he knew was somewhere in this sea of shadows. A circle of light, as though from a spotlight, formed about 10 yards and three feet above the Alakazam. A gray throne of marble became visible, along with the white and purple being sitting on it.

"Yes, Hellshriek, I have a mission that requires your abilities," Mewtwo said out loud, not wanting to waste his mental energy on telepathy.

"Name it, master, and it will be done." Hellshriek struggled to suppress his thoughts as he said this.

"Yesterday, the Celadon Overseer was killed by a sniper that has been only a small nuisance in the past. He managed to escape with two Resistance members who have teleported to an unknown location. That sniper has a firearm, one of very few left in the world. It is useless to us, but if it is brought to the right place, more can be produced, and that could be almost as much of a nuisance as the fools on Cinnabar."

"What are my orders, then?"

A small circle of light appeared on the floor in front of Hellshriek. The small circular tile opened up, and a small tray came out of the floor. On it was a rectangular box with an antennae and a view screen.

"This is a Psy Tracer. When and where the three next strike, you are to use this to follow them after they teleport. Take them alive if you can, but disable them and bring back the firearm."

"It will be done, my lord." Hellshriek took the small box and teleported away to his chambers on the other side of Mewtwo's fortress. In a sigh of relief, he stopped suppressing all the hateful thoughts he had had to push back while he was in the psychic's presence. "Someday," he thought to himself. "Someday..."

* * *

Ash woke up slowly to the sound of two pieces of wood being struck together. He walked out to the main 'room' of the cave, where the torches and fire had been freshly lit. Todd and Rich were training with short wooden poles, about the length of swords. Pikachu was watching the fight intently. 

"Hey, Ash, this new guy's pretty good! I'd like to see him take on one of Mewtwo's fighters!" Rich said, breathing hard.

Pikachu turned to Ash. "Better still, I'd like to see him take you on! What do you say to that, Ash?" A smile grew on Pikachu's face.

"As unlike me as it is to refuse a fight, we don't have time. We have to plan our next move, while its still dark outside."

The four sat around the fire. Rich spoke first.

"First off, Butterfree returned late last night from reconnaissance. He had some bad news and some probably-bad news The bad news is that the Electrodes have been discovered and excavated by Mewtwo already."

Todd suddenly became aware of two angry, mouse eyes looking at him.

"Uh, sorry," he apologized to Pikachu.

Rich continued. "The probably-bad news is an army Butterfree saw marching from Mewtwo's capitol in Cerulean. They were marching down the eastern coastline, apparently toward Vermillion city. There may be a Resistance outpost there that's caused all this commotion, so I say we check it out"  
Ash was thinking. "Down the eastern coastline? They would be there by now if they just went through the ruins of Saffron, wouldn't they?"

"That's also unusual. Butterfree said he felt an enormous psychic force, which could either mean the army is being lead by Hellshriek or Mewtwo himself. Either way, if one of them is marching with an army, there has to be some serious stuff happening in Vermillion," Rich said.

"Hellshriek? Who's that?" Todd asked.

There was a long pause, as if that question had set off a range of old memories in everyone else. Finally, Rich answered.

"Mewtwo's lieutenant. He's one of the strongest beings in the world, but he's a sadistic butcher. He was behind all the biggest, most senseless razings and massacres of the war. He rarely takes prisoners, which is unusual for one of Mewtwo's soldiers..." Rich was going to continue, but Ash scowled and interrupted him.

"Just like he took no prisoners at the Resistance headquarters." Todd thought he saw a tear well up Ash's eye while he scowled. "Just like he took no prisoners with Brock." Ash looked at Todd, who was staring at him. "What, you thought you were the only one with people to avenge? Hellshriek stole everything from me, too," he was now sobbing freely, "and I had more to lose than you"  
Todd was offended by this and was going to say something, but Rich was shaking his head at him to keep quiet.

"Misty...Brock...everybody...," Ash said in between sobs. He suddenly wiped the tears from his now red eyes, a look of bloodcurdling anger on his face. "Hellshriek!" He put his hand on something on his belt, and pulled out a long katana.

Rich turned back to him. "Snap out of it! We all have bones to pick with Hellshriek, but you don't see me or Todd or Pikachu marching off to suicide. That won't bring back Brock."

Ash sat down and closed his eyes, clutching a heart-shaped locket on his neck. "Or Misty..." he whispered. He broke down completely, burying his face in his hands and weeping. Rich signaled to Todd for them to leave him alone, and they left the room. Pikachu stayed with Ash, partly to comfort his master and friend, partly because he was on the verge of tears himself. When they were in another room of the cave, Todd turned to Rich with concerned curiosity.

"What happened to him?

Rich looked back in on Ash, who was still crying. He turned back to Todd, sighed, and the sad story unfurled.

"It was about 3 years ago, at the very end of the Psy War. Saffron had just fallen, and Commander Lance had ordered all members of the Resistance to report to the headquarters on Indigo Plateau to defend against an imminent attack from Mewtwo. Ash, Pikachu, Misty, and Brock were enlisted together, and they were all at the Plateau. Hellshriek lead the army against them, and they were completely overwhelmed. Lance ordered everyone to evacuate so they could fight another day, but it didn't work out that way. Ash told me what happened later: the four of them were all running down a corridor with the lights flickering, Hellshriek himself and some armored Machokes at their heels. Brock dove back at Hellshriek to buy them some time, and he landed one good hit on him before the lights flickered off. When they flickered back on, Ash told me, Brock was dead and Hellshriek was fuming mad. He doesn't remember anything that happens after that, but luckily I was late to answer Lance's call and didn't reach the Plateau until after the battle. All I found there were mountains of rubble and dead bodies. Ash and Pikachu were the only ones alive that I could find, and even they were only hanging on by a thread. It's only thanks to my knowing medicine that they're still alive."

"I guess we've all been through a lot in this war. What did you mean by 'we all have bones to pick with Hellshriek,' though?"

"It used to be that the Resistance fought for the good of humanity and the future. Now, whatever survivors are left fight for their own personal revenge more than humanity. It's that promise for revenge that keeps us going, and since he's behind all the worst atrocities against humans and pokemon, that revenge is almost always tied in with Hellshriek. I've got my stories of woe to tell, too, but I think there have been enough tears for today."

"I agree." Ash said as he walked into the chamber, calm again. "We should make for Vermillion as soon as possible, while the sun is still low."

"How far is it from the cave? For that matter, where is the cave?" Todd asked.

"Under the Seafoam Islands. Which reminds me," Ash pulled a pokeball off his belt. "Here. Its an Abra, but you can think of it as the keys to the house. All it knows is teleport, but what's important is that it knows the precise coordinates of this cave. Each of us has one in case the others don't make it."

"Even me," Pikachu squeeked, holding up a miniature pokeball.

"We can get directly to Vermillion, but it might take longer to figure out what's so important up there. Get your weapons, just in case." Ash drew his katana again, Rich took out a long machete, and even Pikachu took out a short army knife, about the size of a sword for him. Todd picked up his axe off the wall and stored stuck his shotgun in his backpack. "Everybody ready? Good, go Abra. Take us to Vermillion City."

* * *

Hellshriek rode along, a large army following him, and another mounted figure riding next to him. "So, the Neptune is finally finished? After all the time we spent on it, the defenses of Cinnibar will be no match for us." 

The other figure, without turning to Hellshriek, scoffed, "Do not underestimate them. They have the tactical advantage of only needing to defend themselves, whereas we need to capture them without destroying them completely, and fast enough so they do not destroy themselves completely."

"Only until we have what we need from them. Then, if I may have the honor, my lord, I will destroy them myself."

The other rider turned to look at Hellshriek now, a mild look of disgust in his face. "Very well, but see to it that your bloodlust does not get the better of you. It will be your undoing."

Hellshriek built up an enormous metal barrier against the other, then laughed to himself in his mind. "I'll show you undoing, fool."

* * *

The barren streets of Vermillion City stood as filthy and desolate as they had for the past three years. Suddenly, a cloud of dust swirled, and papers started blowing around as if caught in an unearthly wind. There was a bright flash of light, and the five figures materialized into the streets. 

"Abra, return," Ash said as he held out the pokeball and fired a red laser out of it. The Abra vanished back into the pokeball.

"Welcome to Vermillion City. Population: you." Ash said sarcastically. He cleared his throat, paused, and let out three short, Pidgey-like noises, followed by one long Fearow noise. Ash, who noticed Todd looking at him with a bewildered face, chuckled and explained, "it's a secret call for the Resistance. If anyone from the Resistance was in earshot, that would queue them to our presence as friends."

The three of them began searching the dead city. They found nothing but rotting buildings, Rattattas scurrying through the shadows, and the ever-present stench of death.

"If there is a resistance base around here, they picked a nice place. They sure have their share of hiding places to pick from," Todd said.

"Yeah, but I doubt anyone's here. If there were any, they'd either be attacking a small force like us or coming to greet us. I think that army is coming for something else entirely." Ash said. Todd thought he heard a distant sound coming from the south, and turned to see what it was. What he saw made his jaw drop.

"Uh, guys, do you think that maybe they're coming for that." Todd said, pointing south. The other three turned around, gasping.

"Oh...my...God..." Ash stuttered. Off on the southern dock was an absolutely enormous battleship. It looked like it could fit at least ten other boats in it, and it was armed to the teeth with funny looking cannons and radio dishes of every kind. Underneath it was a large fleet of normal battleships, dwarfed by the enormous ship in the middle of them. "Holy crap, how's that thing supposed to stay afloat?"

Rich was also muddled. "I wonder how Butterfree missed something THAT big. Some psychics must be onboard, cloaking it when they need."

Tood agreed. "Makes sense. It wouldn't be cloaked if the army was looking for it. Alright, first objective met. NOW what are we supposed to do?"

Pikachu stared at the thing for a few more seconds. "You a religious man, Todd?" he said, only half joking.

Ash closed his eyes and thought for moment. "It doesn't seem right: why did Mewtwo build a boat at all, let alone one that big. There never even was a Resistance navy, and there sure isn't one now. It just doesn't go together┘" He was interrupted by a loud, piercing whistle, apparently from the boat.

"Hide!" Ash shouted, causing the four of them to dive behind separate obstructions. A long line of pokemon and people began to appear at the docks, a figure on a Rapidash at the lead. The figure stopped abruptly to look around himself, then continued riding to the dock.

Ash tossed a pokeball behind him. An Abra popped out. "Abra, take us closer," he whispered. There was a bright flash, and the four of them reappeared behind a pile of rubble in the streets. They were right by the army and the docks now, and the figure on the Rapidash could now be seen to be an Alakazam.

"Hellshriek." Ash hissed. "I just hope he didn't notice┘" just as he said this, a small beeping noise became audible from Hellshriek's direction. He pulled out a strange box with an antennae, looking at it with concern and confusion. He slowly smiled and looked at the pile of rubble the four were hiding behind.

"Get ready," Ash whispered, anticipating something bad, which Hellshriek soon gave. The Alakazam lifted his hand at the pile of rubble, which was blown back and away with enormous force. The four were sent flying back into the street, grasping their weapons tightly. Todd fell to the ground, Rich landed in a roll, then jumped up to his feet, and Ash managed a somersault and landed on his feet. Pikachu landed next to him, used to being blown back like that. The four held their weapons tight in their hands.

Hellshriek laughed. "Ha, look at this! The very nuisances I wanted to see. Oh, you four have been very, very naughty boys. So naughty, you've been sentenced to death upon capture," he said in a mothering tone. "However, I'm sure that if you hand over that gun of yours, his lordship, Mewtwo, could find it in his heart to spare you."

"Don't you mean enslave us, you son of a bitch!" Ash screamed, practically foaming at the mouth with anger.

"Oh dear, I don't much care for the way you're speaking to me," Hellshriek said sarcastically. He waved his hand at Ash, flinging a pile of stones from the ground to Ash. He managed to dodge most of them, but a few hit home. He stood standing, wiping some blood from his lip. "Ha, didn't think I could attack you with your precious inhibitors, did you? Now I'll only ask one more time." His voice became more sinister and demanding. "Give me the gun."

"You can have a bullet, but we'll keep the gun!" Todd shouted as he took out the shotgun and fired. Hellshriek focused hard on the bullet, telepathically slowing it down. But it was too little, and the bullet tore through his arm. The Alakazam let out an unholy sounding scream of pain.

"You..will┘PAY!" he shouted. The bullet hole began to close itself from Recover, but Hellshriek was still enraged by the pain it had caused him. The dust began to swirl around him, and he began to glow a bright yellow. He breathed in deeply to let out a scream. Just as he was about to, though, he was gripped by a look of pain and horror, and fell to the ground. A disembodied voice could be heard.

"Fool. If you used an attack of such potency, it would have destroyed the entire army and damaged the Neptune. Now stand down. I will take care of them myself"

Hellshriek cringed. He looked back at the four of them with hate in his eyes, then spat out. "Yes, my lord." He slowly crawled back to his Rapidash.

"Oh crap," Ash gasped.

"What is it, Ash?" Todd asked.

"There's only one thing on this Earth that Hellshriek would answer to, and that's┘" As he said this, the front line of the army split apart, revealing another figure on a Rapidash. "┘Mewtwo himself."


	4. Shadows of the Past

Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust

Part 3: Shadows of the Past

* * *

"So, Ash Ketchum, we meet at last," Mewtwo said, hovering off his Rapidash and floating slowly towards them.

"How do you know my name, muderer?" Ash hissed.

"I know the names of all who oppose me, human. That one is Todd, that one is Richard, and that one, as always, is Pikachu." He stopped his approach, hovering about 10 yards ahead of them. "But you will all be dead if you oppose me any longer. You are only minor thorns in my side, not even worthy of beholding the Neptune." He waved his hand at the enormous ship, indicating its name. "The threat that it was constructed to deal with is more than all your pathetic Resistance soldiers had ever been. But opposition is opposition," he said as he began to glow with a blue aura, "and I cannot stand for it in any degree." He threw his hands into the air, causing two enormous columns of rubble to rise up on either side of the Ash and the others.

"Move it!" Ash shouted. A split second later, Mewtwo brought his hands down like a conductor, making the columns of rubble collapse on the four. Luckily, they managed to dive out of the way in time to prevent mortal injury. Todd, pushing off a large slab of tone from his leg, raised his gun at Mewtwo and fired. Without even raising his hand, Mewtwo created a green shield of energy around him, repelling the bullet. Rich leapt up at him with his machete lifted and ready, but Mewtwo dodged him easily. Pikachu launched several thunderbolts, but Mewtwo's shield repelled them all.

"Stop it, all of you!" Ash shouted at them. The three looked at him with questioning faces, but he winked at them to show that he had an idea. He pulled something out of his pocket, a long chain with a small metal thing on the end.

"Try this on for size, monster!" Ash shouted. Thinking nothing of this, Mewtwo simply raised his psychic shield again. Ash spun the chain around like a sling, then let it fly up at Mewtwo. It burst right through the shield and wrapped around a very shocked Mewtwo, who promptly crashed to the ground, screaming.

"Clever." Hellshriek thought to himself.

"Now Todd!" Ash shouted. Todd, who's leg was too injured to stand, grabbed his gun took aim at Mewtwo, who was squirming around on the ground like a beached whale. His shot connected perfectly through Mewtwo's head. As the writhing corpse stopped and a puddle of blood formed, there was a silence so thick and unbroken you could cut it with a knife.

"Oh my God, we actually did it," Rich whispered to himself. Then he shouted out loud, "WE DID IT!" Rich and Pikachu began dancing around in joy, and Todd cheered from his painful position on the ground. But Ash didn't even smile; he just stared solemnly at the corpse on the ground.

"Wait." he said to them, lifting his hand in a stopping gesture. "That wasn't Mewtwo."

"What? What do you mean it wasn't Mewtwo?" Todd asked.

"Look for yourself," Ash said. The corpse began to twist and contort, reverting to a thick, pink liquid. The liquid came together and formed into an amoeba-like creature, lying stone dead on the ground.

"Crap! It was just a Ditto?!" Todd shouted, quite muddled.

"Heh, a stunt double. Clever bastard." Hellshriek thought to himself. He had been watching the fight with great amusement, especially at the moment of Mewtwo's supposed death. But, now that Mewtwo wasn't dead, Hellshriek still had duties to follow. "After them!" he commanded to a small platoon of Hitmonchans. "Bring me their heads!" The Hitmonchans charged forward, fire and thunder building up on their fists.

"I think we've overstayed our welcome," Rich said as he tossed out a pokeball. "Abra, take us away from here!"

Just before they teleported away, Ash turned to Hellshriek with burning hate in his eyes. "This isn't over, butcher! We'll meet again!" A bright flash enveloped them, and they were gone.

Hellshriek's Psy tracer began beeping again. He took it out and looked at it, smiling. "Yes, we will, human. Sooner than you think," he said to himself, his maniacal laughter growing louder.

* * *

A bright light flashed in the cave once again. Rich recalled his Abra and put Todd's arm around his shoulder, helping him up and to a seat. The fire and torches had died down a little since the morning, but they still provided adequate light.

Rich knelt down and pulled up the pant sleeve on Todd's injured leg. "Lets see that leg of yours. Does it hurt here?" He pressed down on one area of the leg.

"No."

"Here?"

"No."

"How about here?"

"AHHH!"

"Oh yeah, that's a break. A pretty bad one, too. Pikachu, be a good boy and get me my supplies."

"I resent that," Pikachu huffed back at Rich as he trotted out of the room. He returned shortly with a small doctors bag and gave it to Rich, who began bandaging Todd's leg.

"I'd give this thing at least three weeks to heal. That means don't walk on it or put pressure on it in any other way."

"Three weeks? How will I be able to fight?"

"You're not going to. You're not leaving this cave till that thing's healed."

"What? You mean I have to stay alone in this place all day for three weeks?"

"You don't have to be alone. We don't have as many pok?on now as we used to, but here, one of mine can keep you company." Rich took a pok?all off his belt and handed it to Todd. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah, when do I get my lollipop, doctor?"

"Smart ass. No lollipops, but if you weren't injured, I'd give you a nice little jawbreaker," he threatened, holding up his fist. He settled down and sat on another rock. "Hey, where'd Ash go? Its his turn to make lunch"  
Pikachu looked around. "Hmm, where IS he? He was here just a minute ago." Pikachu began hopping around the rooms of the cave. "Ash! Ash! Where are you! I'm hungry!"

Rich thought to himself, then sighed. "Don't bother looking for him." Rich called back to Pikachu. "I know where he is." Rich tossed out a pok?all, and his Abra appeared.

Pikachu looked sad. "You think he's up at the graves again?"

"I'd bet a good deal on it. Abra, take me to Indigo Plateau. Its time Ash came out of mourning."

* * *

The piles of stones were still standing after three years. They were meant as grave markers, but they stood now as more of a memorial for the last stand of the Resistance. Many graves didn't even have any bodies below them, instead memorializing those whose bodies Ash, Rich, and Pikachu couldn't find.

Ash stood now by one of those empty graves. It wasn't a part of the makeshift graveyard in the ruins below, instead standing solitary on a lonely cliff at the end of the plateau. The view over this cliff was spectacular at sunset, but Ash had never noticed anything as having beauty in this place. Indeed, ever since he had placed this grave marker, he had never noticed anything at all as having beauty.

It was past noon, now, and the sun beat down hard on Ash. He didn't notice though, his mind overwhelmed by grief and questions. He had felt each a million times constantly throughout the past three years, but they had never lost their familiar sting. He sighed as he knelt down and placed fresh flowers by the grave. He removed the heart locket from his neck and opened it. There was a tiny picture of him and Misty, arms around each other's shoulders and smiling for the camera. He sighed and lightly placed it on the grave. "Why did you have to die?" he asked softly, his voice creaking with sadness. A tear welled up in his eyes. "Did you even know how I felt?" he asked, fighting back tears. "Why was I spared, only to live without you?" he asked out loud.

"You were spared to carry on the fight that needed to be fought." Ash jumped to his feet, katana ready, as the voice answered him from behind. Rich was standing there, his face grim and serious. Ash dropped his guard, but he was frowning deeply.

"I can't even pay respects to a dead friend, anymore?"

"You've come here almost everyday for the past three years. This isn't honoring the dead, it's keeping your head in the past. You have to stop mourning and start fighting." Rich hesitated before going on, unsure how Ash might react to what he was going to say. "Misty wouldn't have wanted your losing her to take you out of this war."

Ash scowled and looked at Rich with anger. "What do you know about what Misty wanted? You didn't even know her!" Tears began trickling down his face. "I knew her better than anyone! Anyone!" He sighed, hit with realization. "And you're right. She wouldn't have wanted it to be like this. But I...I just can't help it. She was the single most important person in my life, and I didn't even get to say goodbye." He wiped some tears from his eyes with his sleeve.

Rich walked up to him and placed his hand on his shoulder, his expression more sympathetic. "But what really holds you back is that you never told her how you felt."

Ash looked up at him, confused. "How did you know about that?"

Rich smiled slightly. "I can read people pretty well, for a non-psychic. But you have to leave the past behind you. Nothing you could do would bring Misty back, and there's certainly nothing more you could have done to save her. Its time you left the past behind."

Ash turned back to the grave, staring at it quietly. He was deep in thought, considering these last words, when a familiar and sinister voice interrupted.

"I agree. The past had nothing interesting anyway. Just a lot of pompous humans running around, thinking themselves so high and mighty. The future's where you should be looking," the two of them turned quickly to meet the voice. Hellshriek and a pack of Charmeleons were standing about 20 yards off, completely barricading off any escape from the cliff. "And we are the future."

Ash was fuming with anger. "I hate you enough for the first time you desecrated this place, you monster. You don't want to see what I'll do to you if you desecrate it again." His knuckles were white from gripping the katana hilt so hard.

"On the contrary, I think that would be quite amusing," Hellshriek said, smiling, as he lifted his hand in the air. The stones from Misty's grave rose up and flew into Ash. The impact was relatively weak, but Hellshriek had intended for it to anger Ash more than debilitate him. The locket had also flown up, but rather than hit Ash, it had flown right into Hellshriek's hand.

Ash was barely holding himself back from going to certain death by attacking Hellshriek when Hellshriek began examining the locket.

"Oh, look at that. It's a picture of two of the pathetic humans. How cute! Don't you think so, Char?" He said sarcastically, showing the locket to the Charmeleon next to him.

"Charr," it hissed, grinning wickedly. It spat out a tiny stream of fire at the locket, melting it completely.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, too," Hellshriek said, breaking into a maniacal laugh. Hellshriek looked at Ash, who was now practically bursting into flames of anger. "Oh, I'm sorry, was that yours?"

"AAHHH!" Ash leapt at Hellshriek, katana lifted up behind him. He was about 10 feet from Hellshriek when the Alakazam lifted a tiny yellow shape and pointed his finger at it. Realizing with horror what the shape was, Ash forced himself to a stop.

"Not another step. I'd hate to have to kill your rat," Hellshriek shouted, his tone more vicious and demanding as he held Pikachu's unconscious body in one hand. "Or your new friend, for that matter, despite what he did to my arm." As he said this, Todd's unconscious body was tossed at Hellshriek's feet by a large Charmeleon. "Ooh, this is a nasty pickle, isn't it? Do you attack me, and lose yet another two of your comrades? Do you give up your life to try and save theirs? Or do you run like a scared sheep? Its your move, human."

Ash and Hellshriek stared into each others eyes, almost as if they were trying to force the other down through will power. Ash's hand was sore from his tight grip on his katana. He looked at Pikachu, who's Psy Inhibitor had been removed. The yellow mouse was bleeding very slightly, but it seemed as though he had been hypnotized rather than knocked out. Todd also looked like he had been hypnotized, his Inhibitor removed as well. Those two were his friends, and it hurt Ash badly to think of losing them. Ash looked away from them, not daring to let his grief interfere, and he met Hellshriek's gaze. Hate was boiling over in Ash as he looked at the vile psychic, not only his own hate, but the hate that Ash knew others had for him. His death would pay for so many others, even those Ash didn't know about. As he continued to stare, standing firm and strong, Ash knew what he had to do.

"Your madness ends now, demon," Ash spat, pointing his katana at Hellshriek. Hellshriek was smiling, his finger glowing as it pointed at Pikachu, as Ash lifted his sword up and reeled back to pounce at him. Suddenly, a shape dove between Ash and Hellshriek, too fast for Ash to identify it, and it barreled into Ash, knocking him to the ground.

"Butterfree, Sleep Powder!" Rich shouted. The Butterfree obediently showered Ash purple spores. Ash struggled hard against the fatigue which was quickly spreading through him. His body felt very heavy, and he soon tumbled to the ground.

"Wha...what are you doing?" Ash barely managed to mumble before he finally passed out.

Hellshriek watched this with a confused face, then he broke into maniacal laughter. "Ha! Treachery! I love it! I guess you know who the winning side is in this war? Ha!" Hellshriek was still laughing, but Rich was as serious as ever.

"Don't flatter yourself," Rich said. He signaled to his Butterfree, who carried the sleeping Ash over to him. Rich tossed a pok?all out, and his Abra appeared. "Take us out of here."

Hellshriek smiled. "Where will you go that I cannot follow you, human? Your cave is ours, as is this entire planet."

Giving no response to this, Rich and the others were swallowed up by the bright light again. Hellshriek took out his Psy Tracer, chuckling, but when he saw where they had teleported, his face broke into confused horror. He screamed as he crushed the box in his free hand. In the other hand, Pikachu was just coming to.

"Ohh...Pika pi," he mumbled, still mostly asleep.

"Yes, my little friend. You're in deep pika now," Hellshriek hissed.

* * *

A hundred miles away, Rich, Ash, and the two pokemon rematerialized. Rich recalled them both, then knelt down beside Ash, still sleeping. Rich pulled a small flute out of his backpack and played a short, soft melody. Ash slowly woke up.

"Huh...wha...what happened?" Ash muttered.

"Good, the old pok?lute still works. Now get up, we need to find cover," Rich pulled Ash to his feet. Ash was still partly asleep and unaware of what was happening. His memory soon came back to him, and his mind was clouded with regret and anger and other dangerous emotions. He leapt at Rich, forcing him against a nearby brick wall by his collar.

"Why the Hell did you stop me! I could've killed him once and for all!"

"Wrong. You would've died, and taken Todd and Pikachu with you."

"Better a quick death then what Mewtwo's going to do to them now! You know he doesn't kill his prisoners; he just uses them as test subjects or makes them into even more mindless slaves! We should have stayed and fought to the bitter end!"

Rich frowned, then pushed Ash away from him. "And it would be bitter. Bitter indeed. As far as we know, we're the only free men alive. If we died, the war would be over and humanity would be thoroughly defeated. I didn't enjoy what I did back there, but it had to be done, and you know it."

Ash turned away, still scowling. He sighed, then turned back to Rich, his face still angry. He didn't seem to want to discuss it anymore. "So where are we now. I guess he can follow our teleports, if he found the cave."

Rich smiled a little, a smile of pride in his own cleverness. "Don't worry. If my hunch is right, then he won't be following us here," he said as the two of them walked out into the street, which seemed even more battered then Vermillion city.

"Where is 'here'?"

"What other place is this war-torn?" Rich asked as they walked around a bend in the road. Suddenly visible was a towering city of ruined buildings. The sky was a dismal yellow, with gray-brown clouds floating ominously. "Welcome to Saffron City."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	5. The Ruins of Saffron

Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust

Part 4: The Ruins of Saffron

* * *

Ash stared at the decaying buildings all around them. "Saffron, eh? What makes you think we're safe here?"

"Call it a hunch. If Hellshriek and Mewtwo led their armies an another day's march to avoid Saffron, then I doubt they'll be coming here just to get us," Rich said.

Ash looked uncertain. "So you're saying that what's a danger to Mewtwo himself isn't a danger to us?"

Rich walked forward into the ruins. "Well, we know we can't do anything against Mewtwo or Hellshriek, so we may as well take our chances with the unknown evil." He looked back at Ash. "Coming?"

Ash looked down at his katana, then shrugged. "Sure, why not. I don't have that much to live for, anyway." Rich frowned at him as the two walked into the ruins.

* * *

Hellshriek walked down the strip of illuminated carpet again. He stared gloomily at the utter darkness around him, still thinking of what a morbid place it was. "I don't care if he can focus better in here, its still damn creepy," he thought. He knelt again at the end of the carpet, holding up Todd's gun.

"My lord, I have recovered the firearm, as you wished"

The large spotlight again formed around Mewtwo, still on his concrete throne. "You have done well, Hellshriek. Have you captured the humans, as well?"

"No, my lord, not all of them. I have captured the Pikachu and the one named Todd, but Ash and Richard remain."

"Why aren't you following them? Do you not still have the Psy Tracer"  
Hellshriek cringed, then held up the broken remains of the tracer. Mewtwo's eyes grew harsher.

"Your anger is a weakness, Hellshriek, that could easily be exploited. I trust you know of their whereabouts, at any rate?"

Hellshriek paused for a moment. "No, my lord, I don't...Gaa!" Hellshriek grabbed his head and began to twist around on the ground. Mewtwo's oddly formed hand was lifted at Hellshriek, glowing a bright blue.

"I allow you to keep some of your mind to yourself, but do you really think you can lie to me without my knowing? Now, I ask again, do you know their whereabouts?"

The psychic attack diffused, and Hellshriek could think clearly again. He crawled back up to his kneeling position, scowling, and continued. "Yes, my lord. They have teleported to the ruins of Saffron City."

"Ah, now I see it. Then you didn't redirect my army to draw out the Resistance soldiers at all, even though that worked out quite well. You must have some other, more personal reservation about going to Saffron City."

Hellshriek nodded, a mix of shame and embarrassment. "Yes, my lord. But if I may ask it, please do not send me after them again if it means going through those ruins. I have followed your orders as you gave them."

Mewtwo considered this. "Very well. I suppose your service to me deserves a favor. I shall order another of my lieutenants to lead an expedition into the ruins. In the meantime, you should report to the Vermillion City docks. The Neptune will be disembarking in a matter of days."

"As you wish. I trust you want the firearm taken to a production plant to have more replicated."

Mewtwo cocked an eyebrow at Hellshriek. "Of course not. All production plants are far too busy as it is. We cannot further press them with the production of something so useless. You are to destroy the firearm."

"Destroy it? Useless? Master, if our armies had guns, nothing would stand in their way..."

"Nothing stands in their way now, Hellshriek. My pokemon fight well enough with their own gifts, and my men fight well enough with spears or bows. Destroy the firearm."

"But master..."

"That will be all," Mewtwo said, the spotlight on him dissolving. Hellshriek saw it was pointless to continue this, and walked out flustered if not angry, still carrying the shotgun in his hand.

* * *

"Let me out right now, you chu ka!" Pikachu shouted angrily, shaking the bars of the cell with what little physical strength he had. "Oh, you're going to be very, VERY sorry you screwed with Pikachu, Mewtwo! Ka chuu!" He finished this last shout with a powerful thundershock directed at the cell bars, which fizzled unsuccessfully like all the others.

"Give it up, already. If you haven't damaged the bars yet, you're not going to. Now sit down before you pop a blood vessel or something," Todd said. Pikachu struggled with the bars for a little while longer, than crawled back to where Todd was sitting.

"Where are we?" Todd asked.

"Don't know. We just got teleported here, without any mention of where we are. It's bizarre that Mewtwo should even be putting us in a dungeon; he usually doesn't put prisoners in jail."

"Great. This must be death row, then."

"Medical experiment row is more like it," said a disembodied voice. Pikachu and Todd looked anxiously around. "Mewtwo never kills something if he can just as easily test new toys on it."

"Who said that? Where are you?" Todd asked, looking around the dark, cave-like cell.

"I'm in the cell next to yours," the voice said, followed by a knock on the left cell wall. "What are you in for?"

"I guess you could say we're prisoners of war. I guess you're the same?" Pikachu asked.

The voice laughed. "Ha! Let me guess: the Resistance?" Pikachu acknowledged, and the voice laughed again. "Oh, you people never knew how hopeless you were. Mewtwo could have mowed you over like grass if he gave half a damn."

Pikachu stood up again in anger, as if to attack the voice. "Oh, really? And what is it that you're in for, if the Resistance is so worthless?"

The voice paused for a moment. "I was with Mewtwo. Not some stupid soldier, either; I was a grade-A General. I loved being on the winning side, the side with such incredible power. But I had no idea what the war was doing to people and pokИmon until I started having these wild dreams a few weeks ago. All the most filthy, despicable things were being done to people and pokИmon, mostly by Hellshriek and his soldiers, but Mewtwo was just as bad because he knew all about it and didn't care. I thought they were just dreams, but I looked into it and found out that it had all happened, or at least things like them. So I started helping the other side."

"How could you? The few Resistance soldiers left are all scattered around, so how could you..." Pikachu began to say, but the man in the other cell interrupted them.

"I'm not talking about the Resistance. I guess you wouldn't be aware of the fighting going on at Cinnibar Island and Genetech labs?" Before Todd and Pikachu could answer, the voice continued. "Didn't think so. I tried helping them out, but Mewtwo was onto me before a day went by. Which brings me here."

"By the way, where is 'here'?" Todd asked.

"Under Mewtwo's Central Fortress near Cerulean City. These were Mewtwo's old hangouts, a cavern called the Unknown Dungeon. Feel free to think of an escape plan, but don't get your hopes up. Now whatever you're going to do, keep it down. I'm going back to sleep."

Pikachu and Todd looked at each other and shrugged. "Well, any ideas?" They asked at the same time.

* * *

"I've heard stories of this place, but I don't think I've ever actually been here," Ash said, still in awe at the utter destruction around him. "Not since I came for the Marsh Badge, at least."

"I stayed here awhile when a few years back, on a vacation from my pokemon quest. It was such a beautiful place," Rich said, walking over to the cracked wall of a nearby building. He ran his hand over it, feeling the dry, rough stone. There was a small noise like pebbles tumbling down a cliff, then the wall collapsed completely. "I never thought I would see it like this. But I guess if war like Mewtwo dishes out goes on in a place for two years, its going to get pretty bad. I wonder how long we'll be able to stay here before Mewtwo finds us."

"Or before whatever's roaming around here gets us. Whichever comes first." Ash looked around himself again. "But until either shows their face, it seems like this is our city, dead though it may be. Where do you want to go?"

"Well, it seems like we'll be needing a new base to replace the cave, so I guess any of these buildings will do. We ought look around for one that will still stand sturdy. And one that will give us┘"

"Wait," Ash interrupted. He put his hand up to his ear. "Do you hear that?"

Rich listened, and sure enough it sounded like something, or more like a whole group of somethings, was headed toward them.

"Take cover!" Ash whispered as loudly as he could. The two of them dove behind a fallen pile of bricks and looked over the edge. In a few moments, a pack of humans slumped feverishly out of a side street. They wore only a few filthy shreds of clothing, but their long, filthy hair also gave some coverage as well. They stalked around on their hands and feet, sniffing and snarling like wild dogs.

"Degenerates. Saffron must be crawling with them, with all the psychic warfare that went on here," Rich commented. The mass of Degenerates continued hulking down the street, right past the pile Ash and Rich were hiding behind.

"They must be after something else, thank God," Ash thought. He followed their path with his eyes, and sure enough, not far down the road a small yellow creature was wobbling across the street. "Well, this shouldn't take long," he thought to himself, slightly amused and slightly pitying that poor creature down the road.

The pack closed in on the yellow animal. Their snarling was still audible to Ash and Rich, even though they had passed them. The first couple of Degenerates began leaping at it, and soon the whole group had formed a pile on top of it. It seemed like the yellow shape didn't even know what hit it, but it soon became clear it was not like that at all. A beam of light shot through the pile of Degenerates, then another, and another, until their was more light than anything else. Suddenly, with a bright flash and a big boom, all of the sub-humans were blasted into the air, landing unconscious dozens of yards away. The yellow creature, still standing, continued its slow waddle as though nothing had happened.

"Well THAT just scores about a 9.5 on my weird-crap-ometer. I wonder what that thing is," Ash said, jumping out from behind the pile of bricks. He ran down towards the creature, past the unconscious bodies of the Degenerates.

"Ash! Wait! We can't just┘ah, I give up," Rich concluded, running after Ash. Ash closed in on the creature, but when he was a few yards away and could identify it, he stopped dead in his tracks. The creature looked up at Ash, who was pale in the face, jaw dropped. It tilted its yellow, billed head and subjected Ash to a stupefied, vacant gaze.

"Psy?" It asked, if indeed it was asking something. It stared for a moment or two, then concluded, "Duck." It turned and continued waddling away into an alley, leaving Ash staring, his jaw still open. Rich soon caught up to him.

"Well? Where'd he go?" Rich asked, looking around but not at Ash. When he eventually saw the spooked look on Ash's face, he looked a little concerned. "What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Maybe I have," Ash answered, darting away into the alley that the Psyduck had gone down. As could be expected, it hadn't gotten far, and it turned to see Ash charging at him.

"Psy! Psy duck!" It squeeled, running away with surprising speed. Ash followed in hot pursuit, chasing it around the bends and curves of the alley. He started gaining on it as they were approaching another main road, and it was almost within his reach.

"Now I have you, you little...Oof!" Ash was just about to snare the duck when he felt himself hit with surprising force in the back, knocking him flat on his face. "Oh, no," he thought. "NOW what's Rich have against me?" But the threatening voice that spoke next was definitely not Rich's. He felt cold steel press up against his neck.

"Alright, buddy, you have twenty seconds to explain yourself before I leave an awful, red mess of you," the voice threatened from right on top of him.

"Oh, God, where are you, Rich?" Ash thought desperately. He struggled to find the words to say, but he didn't know who he was dealing with. If this was one of Mewtwo's men, the truth would get his throat slit, anyway. He panicked.

"Um, well, ya' see, I'm a, well, um, you know, I'm a, well," Ash sputtered. He heard the person crouching on top of him sigh.

"Oh, for the love of┘okay, I guess you're not one of Mewtwo's drones. None of them are THAT unconfident. Stand up." Now that the voice had lost its threatening tone, Ash could hear that it was feminine. Even vaguely familiar, but he wouldn't let himself think where he remembered it. He stood up, and saw a figure in a brown robe. The face was covered by a large, hanging hood that enveloped the face in shadow. The figure held two long, curved daggers. She continued speaking.

"If you're not one of Mewtwo's, what's your deal? Who sent you?"

"That's a long story. We're with the Resistance, and..."

"What do you mean 'we'? I only see one of you," she interrupted. As if on queue, Rich came out of the alley as well, puffing.

"I'm...way...outta'...shape." Rich said in between gasps for air. He bent his head down, breathing heavily. He didn't even notice the robed person.

"Um, Rich?"

"Yeah?" he asked, lifting his head up again. He suddenly noticed the figure. "Oh," he added plainly, drawing his machete at the sight of the daggers. He wasn't really alert, though; some instinct told him that this was someone they could trust.

"Your friend tells me you're with the Resistance. That true?"

"Yeah." Rich decided to test his instincts. "In this present, we shall fight for the future, in the┘" The figure interrupted him, as he had hoped.

"In the name of the past. The Creed of the Resistance. I guess that shows you I'm a good guy." The figure laughed, a distinctly feminine laugh. The three of them smiled. "And I guess I know now that you're good guys, too."

"Psyy." The psyduck waddled forward again, as if to remind her of something. The figure seemed to remember something, then spoke.

"Why were you chasing my Psyduck, though? He doesn't like getting excited."

"Oh, it was nothing. It was just that an old friend of mine used to have a Psyduck that looked a lot like that one, and I couldn't help but be reminded of her when I saw this one. But this one seems different, like more dignified. My friend's Psyduck was a nasal sounding idiot that always popped out, regardless of what pokИmon my friend called out." Ash chuckled remembering that stupid, stupid duck, even though it hurt to remember Misty.

"Heh, reminds me of my Psyduck a while back. Lucky for him, though, the psychic backlash in the war cleared up his headache, so now he can think and focus clearly. What was your friends name? I might know her."

"No, you don't. She died three years ago, at Indigo Plateau. Me and Pikachu were the only ones who survived." He sighed. "But if you really want to know, her name was Misty."

There was a long pause, and the figure stood there dead still. Finally, her voice creaking with tears, she spoke again. "No, it can't be, it just can't be." She threw back her hood, letting her long red hair shower down over her shoulders. Tears were welling up in her eyes. "Ash? Is that really you?"

The world stopped suddenly for Ash. "Am I dreaming?" He thought. "Stop this, Ash, before you hurt yourself even more. Stop dreaming, Ash, this isn't fair! Misty's dead, Ash! Misty's dead!" he was screaming to himself in his head. Amidst the shouting in his mind, he managed to whisper out, "Mis...Misty?"

The two broke down at almost the same moment. Tears rolled down their cheeks and onto each other as they embraced, an embrace that both of them had thought could never be for three years. They had lost each other, and thought each other gone forever

But there, in the midst of the destruction from the very war that separated them, they had gained each other again. They cried together for what seemed like an eternity, thanking God for giving each other back.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	6. The Flute

Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust

Part 5: The Demon and the Flute

* * *

"Pika chu!" Pikachu shouted angrily, leaping at the steel bars of their cell. The cell lit up with bright lightning and a loud crackle as Pikachu loosed all his fury on the bars. It had little to no effect on them. 

"Give it up, already! You'll give yourself a hernia!" the voice next-door called. "You're already giving me a headache!"

Pikachu slumped back, feeling defeated. "How long before our sentences are carried out, whatever they are?"

"Who's to say you're not carrying it out right now? Maybe you were sentenced to rot down here for the rest of your life," the voice answered.

Todd was thinking, just as he had been thinking for most of his time in the dungeon. He spoke up, "I don't care how much we've done, it's unlike Mewtwo to just let prisoners rot. He could always use more slaves, or guinea pigs."

"Well, if we were psychically enslaved to Mewtwo's mind, Mewtwo himself would have to do the honors since there's no Overseer in Cerulean," the voice said. It paused, remembering something. "That must be it, then. Last I heard, Mewtwo and all his hotshots were going away for a while in that big-ass boat of theirs. The Neptune, I think it's called. That means we have till whenever he gets back."

"To do what? Escape?" Pikachu asked.

"No," the voice answered. "To make peace with our maker."

"Chu, you'd think someone in cahoots with Mewtwo would know a little about his prison system," Pikachu snorted.

"Heh, you're right. I know everything about this prison system, inside out and upside down. That's exactly why I know there's no way to escape. You could only even hope to try if you brought something in with you, and you only have one chance to smuggle something in."

Pikachu shrugged. "They took Abra and my knife, the only things on me. What do you have, Todd?"

"No axe, no gun, no Abra. The only thing they left me with was this damn broken leg."

"By the way, how is that leg? It looks like your cast cracked a little bit there..." Pikachu moved in for a closer look.

"No, no, its fine, please don't, AHHHHH!!" Todd screamed as Pikachu began poking at the exposed skin. Todd almost jumped straight into the air, but with one leg he only managed a short bounce from the floor. When he hit the ground again, there was a very unhappy Pikachu underneath his cast. A mild thundershock had Pikachu free again and Todd in extraordinary pain.

"Ohhh, this'll leave me sore tomorrow." He began shifting uncomfortably in his position on the ground. Something large had somehow gotten into his pocket. "What the...oh my God."

"What is it? A rock?"

"No." Todd stuttered, still in awe of what he had in his hand. "It's a pokИball." There was a moment of mutual awe in which the two said nothing and just stared at the ball in Todd's hand. "I wonder where it┘no, now I remember. Rich gave me a pokИmon back at the cave to keep me company while you were on missions."

"Don't just sit there, then! Open it! This could be our ticket out of here!"

Todd crossed the fingers on one hand, holding the ball in the other. He closed his eyes and began repeating to himself "Don't be a Magikarp, don't be a Magikarp, don't be a Magikarp". He threw the ball against the cave wall, and the pokИmon inside took shape. The two of them gasped at the sight of it.

* * *

Ash and Misty had been locked together for about ten minutes before some space gathered between them. Misty wiped the tears from her eyes. 

"Oh, Ash, I missed you so much. I thought you were, you were┘"

"I thought you were too." Ash decided that if any moment existed when he could let out his feelings for her, that moment was now. "I had so much I wanted to tell you. Misty," he held her at a distance and looked into her eyes. "Listen, Misty, I don't know how to say this, but I┘"

At the pivotal moment, he was interrupted by a loud, piercing noise, like a siren. Misty sighed.

"Ah, God, why'd it have to go off now?" She shrugged out of Ash's grasp and signaled to Psyduck. "I'm really sorry, but we've got to continue this later. That's the attack signal."

Rich looked down then road, as if expecting an army to come marching down. "Where are we going? Is there a base around here?"

"I'll explain later, just move!" she shouted. Rich walked up to Misty, and Psyduck began glowing a pale white. A bright flash engulfed them, and in an instant they were all standing in a large, temple-like hall. It was filled with people in ragged, dirty clothes, as well as some exhausted pokИmon. At the sides, spears, bows, and other weapons were leaned against the wall. At the very front of the room was a proud, grave looking woman on a makeshift throne. At the sight of Ash and Rich, the woman cocked an eyebrow.

"Misty, who are those people? Why have you brought them here?"

"Lady Sabrina, I've found two survivors of the Resistance. This is Ash Ketchum and...um, what's your name, again?" she asked Rich, embarrassed. Rich smirked.

"Rich. Just call me Rich," he said, more to Sabrina then to Misty.

Ash, forgetting his place, stared dumbfounded at Sabrina. "You're THE Sabrina? The Saffron City Sabrina? I thought you died when Mewtwo destroyed Saffron."

"That's a long story, Mr. Ketchum, that we don't have time for right now." She stood up from her seat and lifted her left hand into the air. All the people and pokИmon in the room stopped what they were doing and looked up at her.

"Scouts have reported a contingent of Mewtwo's forces entering the city's northern limits. They estimate, if they come directly here, that they will arrive at this base within ten minutes. You must all defend the gym at all costs. If Mewtwo finds out that I still live, then he will bring all his power to bear on us, and there shall be no escape for anyone. Is that clear?" There was a hum of acknowledgement in the crowd. "Good. Now go, and quickly."

The crowd began to shuffle quickly out of the room, with some hurrying over to the sides first to pick up weapons. Once they had gone and the room was emptier, Ash could see that it was the Saffron Gym itself, with the typical arena pattern on the ground.

"Come on. I know it's a little short-notice, but all these attacks are." Misty said to him. Misty picked up Psyduck to save time, and they all turned and ran out of the room.

"What's happening around here? I thought Saffron was uninhabited." Ash said as they ran.

"I'll explain later, but right now there are more important matters! Like not losing this war once and for all!" Misty said. After running quickly down a blank corridor for a few moments, they came to the main entrance of the gym. They exited, finding a large rampart of dirt erected around the entire gym. Soldiers and pokИmon were crouched behind it, looking over. Misty crouched down in an open spot and signaled for Ash and Rich to join her. The three of them drew their weapons, and for a few minutes they sat in silence, engulfed by the tension surrounding them. Strangely, it was Psyduck that broke the silence.

"Psyduck psy?" he asked, looking at Ash. Misty looked down at him and smiled.

"So, you do remember him."

Recognition showed on Psyduck's face, then confusion. "Psy?"

"Yeah, he's alive after all, but I don't know how yet."

The duck asked one last question. "Duck psy psy?"

"His name's Ash. Ash Ketchum."

Ash's ears suddenly twitched. "Hey! Hey, you're talking about me, aren't you?"

Misty giggled. "Still dumb as an ox. You're the same old Ash, alright."

Ash fumed. "Hey! I'm much smarter now than when you knew me!" Ash cringed right after he said this, realizing he had left himself wide open.

"Wasn't a very steep climb, was it Ashy boy?" Misty retorted, smiling

Ash was about to perpetuate the argument even further, but instead he smiled and laughed.

"Oh, I've missed moments like this. All the stupid arguments over nothing, the small talk; you know, the small things."

Misty smiled at him. "It's the small things that make up life, after all." They looked at each other, and in an instant they were lost in each other's eyes. They knelt there, staring into each other.

"Yeah, the small things," Ash said softly, almost whispering. The tangled emotions in them sorting themselves out, their lips slowly, very slowly, leaned in towards each other's to see if their emotions were real. There was about a foot between them when 'fwish' sound came from far behind the rampart. In a second, a flaming arrow landed right in between Ash and Misty, sending them startling away from each other. A barrage of other flaming arrows landed all around them, some hitting the rampart, others being followed with screams of pain and death. Ash and Misty looked over the rampart, seeing nothing but a small hill a hundred yards off from the rampart. A man climbed to the top of it, and began shouting out to the people behind the wall.

"Soldiers of the Resistance, his Lordship, Mewtwo the Almighty, has ordered your arrests on crimes of treason and conspiracy against his throne. Surrender peacefully, and his lordship will spare your lives. If you resist, however, then not one of you shall leave this place alive. These are his lordship's terms as he has given them himself. Shall you be accepting them?"

A well-aimed arrow through the man's neck was the only answer he received. Tension filled the air as the soldiers behind the rampart waited to receive Mewtwo's assault. Ash looked around himself, seeing the same cutthroat awareness on everyone else there. Even Psyduck seemed to have an angry, anxious look on his face. Surprisingly, though, Ash noticed one person missing.

"Where's Rich?" he asked, not to anyone in particular. Before any answer could be found, a deafening roar rose from behind the hill. In a moment a throng of Scythers and Nidorinos came charging over and toward the gym. As they charged down from the hill, a group of human archers marched into place and began shooting.

"Mewtwo is upon us!" A nearby soldier screamed. He began to run back inside, but an ill-fated arrow ended his retreat permanently. Another, larger man stood up and threw out a pokИball, leaping onto the Rapidash that came out.

"Bring the fight to them, men! Show 'em what free men can do!" he said as he drew a saber and charged over the rampart. Most of the troops followed him, charging onto the field of battle, and in moments their was no sound but death cries and the sound of metal clashing. Ash put his hand on top of the rampart and was about to jump over it, but Misty put her hand on his shoulder and stopped him. She pulled him closer and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"Don't let me lose you again," She said softly. They looked at each other for a fleeting moment, then she removed her hand from his shoulder and they leapt over the rampart together. Psyduck lifted himself over it telekinetically, and every man, woman, and pokИmon was in the battle. The variety of Mewtwo's troops was limited, restricted to Sycthers, human bowmen, and a few Nidorinos, but their numbers were great. The Resistance troops, on the other hand, had many different kinds of soldiers. There men and women with hand weapons of many different kinds, as well as some armed pokИmon. There were also various unarmed pokИmon fighting with their own abilities.

And so the battle went on. The Scythers fought with even more ferocity than could be expected from them, enhanced by chemicals by Mewtwo. The Nidorinos also fought with horrible strength, proving very hard to kill. What few fire pokИmon the Resistance had did very well, one Ninetails taking out a legion of Scythers, and even those who were susceptible to bugs and poison types faired well. The battle was looking good for the Resistance.

* * *

It was about ten minutes into the battle when a badly injured Scyther limped over the hill again. On the other side, safe from the battle, was one of Mewtwo's generals, sent to oversee the expedition through Saffron. The Scyther lurched up to him, protecting its injured stomach with its arms.

"Itsss going badly for uss, sssir," the scyther hissed. "We've lossst half of our men."

"Yes, I know. I'm sorry, but Mewtwo's orders are to keep fighting."

"Pleassse, sssir. We can't beat them alone. Pleassse help uss, sssir." The scyther managed to get this out before it collapsed to the ground, blood streaming out of its stomach. "Pleassse..." was the last word it uttered before it finally died.

The commander looked down at the scythers dead body. He tried to be cold and unfeeling, but deep down he still felt sad for this poor creature. Sighing, the general walked up to the hill.

* * *

Ash was surprised how well the battle was going. He had never seen Resistance troops beat Mewtwo's this badly. But as Ash lopped another Scyther head off with his katana, he couldn't help but wonder where Rich was. As he looked around to find his next melee, he saw something odd move on the hill. He strained his eyes to see, making out the shape of something small and pink. He wondered at this, unaware of the large scyther charging up from behind him.

"Scyy!" It screamed, nearly upon him. Ash had no time to react as he turned to see it charging, blade arms outstretched. Just before its blades impaled him, a robed shape dove out of nowhere, burying one long, curved knife into the scyther's stomach. It screamed in pain for a moment, then, with the other knife, the robed figure sliced its head off.

"Still need me to save your ass for you, don't you, Ash?" Misty said as she turned to him, smiling grimly. The battle was beginning to dissolve, the Resistance badly outnumbering Mewtwo's remaining troops. A loud horn pierced the air from the hill, and in moments the rest of Mewtwo's forces had retreated behind the hill.

"Mewtwo runs! The day is ours!" said the man on the Rapidash. The horse reared up triumphantly, its rider holding his sword up to the dying sunlight. A cheer rose up among the Resistance troops. Misty picked up Psyduck and hugged him. Ash, however, was still looking at the hill.

"Misty, what's that?" he asked, pointing at the pink shape on the hill. She looked up and strained her eyes to see. She gasped and dropped Psyduck.

"Run! It's the Demon!" She shouted. She grabbed Ash and Psyduck and began running off the field, and as more and more people looked up to the hill they retreated as well. They hadn't gotten far when a soothing song drifted through the air.

"Jiggly puff, jiggly, jiggly puff. Jiggly puff, jigglyyy puff," the commander began singing from atop the hill. Almost instantly, soldiers on both sides began falling fast asleep midstride, tumbling to the ground.

"Fight...it..." Misty whispered out before passing out as well. Ash looked at her alarmed, but soon fatigue overtook him, too. Soon, Psyduck and the commander were the only two on either side left standing. A gust of wind soon tipped over the already sleeping Psyduck, who lied on the ground in the same, rigid position he had been standing in.

"No contest," the Jigglypuff grunted in its high, squeaky voice. He drew a small knife and began walking down the hill to finish the job. "Now for the ugly part." He reached the sleeping body of the man on the Rapidash and lifted his head. He put his knife to the man's throat and was about to slice when he heard a distant rumbling sound. It grew and grew, until Jigglypuff dropped the knife in fright. He turned back toward the hill, and in a moment an enormous Rhydon leapt over it, shaking the earth when it hit the ground again. Rich was mounted on its back.

"Coward. Killing people while they sleep." He drew a long machete from behind his back. "Let's see if you can handle a live one."

Jigglypuff was obviously scared by this. "Sleep is my weapon. Now please, leave this place; you're sword won't protect you from it."

"Maybe not, but I have something that will," Rich said, his face showing no indications. He sheathed his machete and got down from the Rhydon, staring down the Jigglypuff.

"Hmph, we'll see." Jigglypuff began singing his song again. He closed his eyes as he sang, focusing on the poisoned notes of his song. Not long into it, he was certain that Rich was asleep, but instead, to his surprise, he heard another melody accompanying his own. Jigglypuff's eyes opened in surprise, his song continuing, and he saw Rich standing there, a small flute up to his mouth, playing a soothing melody that seemed to mimic Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff continued, louder and harder, inflating himself with frustration, and Rich played all the harder to match him. Jigglypuff looked around in horror; not only was Rich not going to sleep, but he was waking up everyone else. Jigglypuff slowly reached the end of the song, and he finally came to a stop at the same time as Rich.

"A beautiful song. But you'll sing it for the Reaper tonight," Rich said, pocketing his pokИflute and drawing his machete. He walked up to Jigglypuff, the bodies around him slowly waking up. When he saw Jigglypuff, he was very surprised with what he saw.

Tears. Jigglypuff was in tears, rolling down his puffy, pink cheeks. "You...you heard the whole song." He sheathed his knife. "No one's ever heard the whole song before. No one." He wiped his tears away with one stubby hand. "And...and you thought it was beautiful?"

Rich cocked an eyebrow at him. "Well, yes. It's a shame someone with such talent uses it for such evil."

Jigglypuff smiled. "I'll use it for whatever you want, from now on."

"Huh?" Rich said, confused.

"I'm sorry for what I've done, I really am. I always hated what I did, what Mewtwo made me do, but now, if you'll only forgive me and take me with you..." He stared up at Rich. "...then I'll be good. I swear it."

"Um...what?" Rich asked. "This is all so sudden; one minute you're about to kill everyone here, the next minute we're having a face off, and now you're pledging allegiance to me?" Jigglypuff nodded, his wide, blue eyes reflecting true guilt. "Well, um...alright, I guess."

Jigglypuff hugged Rich's leg. "Thank you, sir."

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	7. Crossroads

Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust

Part 6: Crossroads

* * *

"Thank God it was a Charizard," Todd said, looking at the large orange creature which was now melting through the bars. "But why would Rich give me a Charizard to keep me company? Aren't they really bad tempered?" 

"Not this one. He's tame as a housecat," Pikachu answered. "Just don't try hugging him or anything; with body heat like his, it ain't pretty."

The Charizard's tail was still pressed up against the bars, melting them surprisingly slowly. Finally, after about an hour of waiting, there was a hole in the bars big enough for Todd and Pikachu to get through (with Charizard recalled).

"Charr," it growled, seeing its work finished.

"Good job, Charizard. Well, Todd, I guess we should be going," Pikachu said.

"Right. Now let's just...AHHHHHH! Holy crap that hurt!" Todd screamed as he tried to stand on his broken leg.

"Oh no, I forgot about your leg! Now what do we do?"

Todd closed his eyes, pondering the possibility that he really didn't want, but knew he had to go through with. "I guess we're going to have to leave me here. You're too small to carry me, and Charizard would burn me to a crisp."

"No! I won't leave someone behind!"

"You have to, Pikachu! I'll just slow you down; if you don't go alone, then none of us will get out of here┘"

"Then we're not going anywhere!" Pikachu interrupted.

The man in the other cell chimed in again. "Ha, you wouldn't get far anyway, whether you had one or two or a thousand people with you."

Pikachu angrily turned his attention to the wall. "Who asked you?!"

Todd, however, was considering another possibility. He called Pikachu over to him and whispered his idea to him. Pikachu seemed uneasy with the idea, but he saw no other choice. They agreed to go through with it.

"Hey, we can break you out, too. If we do, then what do you say to, ya know, giving us a hand here?" Todd asked through the wall.

There was a pause as the man thought about it. "Eh, why not. Just don't get your hopes up or anything; we're all dead men. But Hell, I'm game if you are."

"Alright. Stand back from the wall for a sec." Todd turned to the Charizard and signaled toward the wall. "Melt through it."

"Charr," it growled in compliance. It spat out a thin stream of fire and began melting through the wall quickly. The heat was intense, and Pikachu began feeling faint. Todd was soaked with sweat by the time Charizard was finished melting the outline of an oval. The fire pokemon then swung its volcanic mass into the outline, pushing a large slab of stone through to the other side. In its place was an oval-shaped doorway, its edges dripping with molten rock.

"Ugh, finally," Todd said as he wiped sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. He held Charizard's pokeball out in one hand and recalled the large dragon, hoping to lower the room temperature a little.

"Pii," Pikachu wined, thankful to have the source of the enormous heat removed.

"Took ya long enough," the man said, standing in the doorway. He was tall and well built, wearing a brown long sleeved shirt and dirty gray pants. On his neck was a small yin yang pendant. He walked through the doorway and frowned as he looked over the two prisoners.

"Oh, this is just perfect. A rat and a cripple. Yeah, we'll get REAL far in this dungeon," he said sarcastically. "Well, I guess we should know names if we'll be dying together."

"I'm Todd. That's Pikachu. This is Charizard," Todd said, pointing to the pokeball.

"I'm Garret. You can call me Gary, though; everyone who knew me informally did. Come to think of it, I've gone by a lot of names over the years." He grinned wickedly. "Mostly 'Oh, Gary!" he said in an orgasmic, feminine voice.

While Todd frowned, the allusion went entirely over Pikachu's head. Pikachu was staring at Gary, thinking of where the face and name were familiar from.

"You're from Pallet Town, aren't you?" Pikachu asked him. Gary looked down at him with a cocked eyebrow.

"How'd you know that?"

Pikachu suddenly got angry. He shot a powerful bolt of lightning at Gary, knocking him steaming to the floor.

"Chu, that felt good," Pikachu huffed.

Gary coughed and sputtered on the ground. "What's your deal? Am I supposed to know you or something?"

"Maybe you'll know me better as Ash's Pikachu. You do remember Ash, right?"

The frown on Gary's face warped into an uneasy smile. "Ash? Ash Ketchum? You bet your little yellow ass I remember him." He took a closer look at Pikachu. "So you're Ash's rat, eh? How is the old fool?"

Pikachu frowned at being called a rat, but answered anyway. "He was in bad condition when we last saw him. Emotional, I mean. He never really recovered from the raid at Indigo Plateau. You'd hardly recognize him if you saw him again. But it looks like you haven't changed much; still cocky as ever."

Gary walked over to Todd and helped him up, supporting him on his shoulder. "And damn proud of it, too! I'd hate to have all this fighting damage such a perfect creature as myself."

Pikachu and Todd both shook their heads. "Let's just get out of here," Todd concluded.

* * *

Ash slowly backed away from the passionate kiss. He held Misty tight in his arms, and even now there was only perhaps an inch or two between their faces. He stared into her deep, blissful blue eyes, staring back at him. 

"I love you," he said softly.

"Oh, Ash," Misty whispered as she squeezed him closer to her, her cheek brushing against his. "I love you, Ash."

All of a sudden, a soft melody began painfully clear to Ash. He and Misty were gone in an instant, and his eyes slowly opened. "Damn," he couldn't help but mutter upon realizing it was all just a dream. He was on the battlefield again, back in cruel, painful reality.

He looked up to the source of the music, seeing Rich and a Jigglypuff standing there. Rich had a flute up to his mouth, playing lightly. Ash looked around, seeing what at first he thought to be sleeping men. On closer look, though, he saw that only some were sleeping. Many more were dead.

Faced by this with an even more alarming reality, Ash sat up abruptly and frantically looked around for Misty. With a deep sigh of relief, he saw her lying close by, slowly waking up by the sound of Rich's pokeflute.

"Ash..." she muttered softly. She was barely conscious she said it; indeed, she was barely conscious at all, still half asleep. Ash leaned over her to wake her up, but there was something about her while she was sleeping that captivated him.

"Misty," he thought to himself. "My Misty."

Her eyes opened, those beautiful blue eyes that had haunted Ash's dreams for years. She smiled when she saw Ash's face over hers, the only thing she had wanted to see.

"Hi," she said softly, still smiling.

"Good morning," Ash joked. The music of the pokeflute stopped, everyone up who wasn't dead. Ash and Misty remained still, bathed in the pale orange light of the rapidly setting sun. Misty's half-awake smile cut through Ash like a knife through hot butter, and he was content to simply enjoy the moment in silence. Their eyes became locked with each other's, and the feelings in Ash's heart were now definite. This was the girl he loved.

The moment, however, was not to last. A noise like a fog horn blasted out from the gym, and people around them began walking towards the base.

"We should go inside. When the sun goes down, this city gets really ugly," Misty said as she got up too. Ash looked up to the sky, and sure enough the sun was barely above the horizon. They began walking inside.

"Hey, you two, wait up!" Rich shouted. He and Jigglypuff were running up from behind them to catch up.

"Rich? Where were you during the fight? We could have used that Rhydon of yours," Ash said, remembering that Rich was gone before.

"Yeah, we saved all of your asses in the end, anyway. I figured me and Rhydon would go around and get the drop on them from behind, and it was lucky we came in when we did, too. Otherwise, Jiggly here would have killed every last one of you," Rich said, gesturing to the pink puff standing at his side.

"AHH! It's the demon!" Misty shouted as she saw the Jigglypuff. The pokemon seemed very upset at this.

"So, that's the name I've earned myself, is it? Demon?" He put his short, stubby hands up to his eyes and started pouting. Rich knelt beside it and comforted it.

"Its all right, she doesn't know," Rich said in a calming tone. He looked harshly up at Misty.

"Um, maybe we should get inside and sort this out," Misty said in an embarrassed tone. It was practically night, and that meant all the nightmarish creatures infesting Saffron would come out. They all walked back over the rampart and into the safety of the gym. And another dark, chaotic night fell on the ruins of Saffron City.

The night was barely banished from the inner halls of the gym. The five; Ash, Misty, Rich, Jigglypuff, and Psyduck, were walking down the dimly lit corridor. A few candles flickered here and there, their shadows dancing on the walls and floor. It was arguably creepier than outside, but much safer. They continued down the corridor, lined with dirt, weapons, and sleeping soldiers and pokemon. Misty glanced over at Ash, who was looking here and there with a look of puzzlement in his eyes.

"Sorry, you must have a thousand questions," she apologized.

"Yeah, you might say that," Ash replied, who hadn't really understood a thing that had happened since he first left the cave and went to the Indigo graveyard.

"I guess its not too late to see Sabrina. She'll tell you all you want to know," Misty said reassuringly. She led the group in another direction.

"Sabrina? Isn't she in charge of this place? I don't want to get in the way or anything," Ash said.

"Oh, its no trouble. Nothing big's happening now, anyway, so she won't be busy," Misty reassured him. In a few minutes, they reached the door of Sabrina's personal quarters. Misty knocked.

"Yes?" asked the female voice from inside.

"Are you busy, ma'am? My friends have some questions for you," Misty asked.

"By all means, come in Misty," Sabrina said. The door opened by what looked like remote control, but was probably telekinesis. Sabrina was inside, wearing her standard red outfit. She had been sitting up on her cot in a yoga stance, but she was now getting up to greet her guests. She shook hands with Ash and Rich, giving the Jigglypuff an odd look.

"So, what did you want to ask me,┘..Ash?" she asked, pausing for a moment to remember his name.

"Well, how much can you answer?"

Sabrina cocked an eyebrow at him, then smiled. "Have a seat. I can tell we'll be here for awhile."

They all sat down by a small coffee table in the room, bordered by three chairs and a sofa. Rich, Jigglypuff, and Sabrina took the chairs, with Misty, Ash and Psyduck on the sofa.

"I suppose it will be best to start with the basics. You know what the whole point of the war is, don't you? What Mewtwo is trying to get?"

"Of course. He wants to rule the world," he replied confidently. Sabrina shook her head.

"Wrong. While he does have control of the world, his rule is more like a global puppet show than a dictatorship, and he only has that much control because its convenient. He hates everything on this planet, humans above all, but pokemon too. He doesn't want anything to do with them, not even rule them like slaves. To him, the best purpose earthly life can provide is to be thrown into the proverbial furnace to fuel his insane dream."

"Which is?" Rich and Ash asked simultaneously in anticipation.

"To reach the pinnacle of mental development. To speed the process, which would normally take millions of separate generations, he is draining the mental essences from those under his control. That is the true purpose of the Overseers he has planted throughout the world. Each a powerful psychic, their purpose is not merely to control, but to transfer. They slowly tap the psyches out of the organisms within their range and control, then transfer it to Mewtwo himself."

"But, won't that kill them when they're completely drained?" Rich asked.

"Not quite. They will become like the wayward packs of Degenerates that walk the world, now only a prelude to the madness that will come. Everyone and everything will be degenerated by the time Mewtwo reaches his goal. He considers it a worthy sacrifice to have an entire world be decimated if just one being from it can reach the precipice of its being."

Ash and Rich sat silent for a minute, still trying to digest all of this.

"Whoa," was all Ash could get out.

"Yes, I know it's a bit much to hear all at once. In his hunger for power, he has chosen the highest goal any creature could hope for. And it may yet be his downfall."

"What do you mean?" Rich asked, thrown for another loop by this cryptic statement.

"Even at the current rate of which he's taking in mental energy, attaining absolute mentality will still take at least five hundred years. Thus, he has only two alternatives: finding a way to live for another five hundred years, or finding a way to shorten the process. He must have been aware of this choice ever since he began the war, and known that the latter was much more feasible; it would explain why he chose to attack Saffron first. All the world's most powerful psychics were here, full to the brim with psychic energy, with myself as the main course of what he imagined as a veritable banquet of minds. Over the course of three years, he ravaged the city completely, but the battle was still going in our favor. But the tides turned drastically when my Alakazam betrayed us. He only needed to use one devastating attack, a scream, during which his body let out a lethal blast of psychic energy. It decimated the city, and it was believed that the rest of the citizens, myself included, had died. Mewtwo considered it a very hollow victory, and abandoned the city shortly after. My Alakazam joined Mewtwo as his second in command, and went on to crush Indigo Plateau with that same attack. Even though he never used it again again, the scream grew in infamy, and it became his namesake. He was known forever after as Hellshriek."

Ash nearly choked on his own breath. That same Kadabra who had given him such a hard time all those years ago was now that merciless demon? How could it be?

"Hellshriek was yours?" Rich asked, surprised yet intrigued.

"Yes, the operative word being 'was'. I was shocked at how much rage was in his heart, and his twisted thoughts still haunt my dreams. But he is still one of our most valuable assets, even though he may not mean it."

"How so?" Rich asked, still intrigued.

"We were not the only ones he has betrayed. He has been secretly working against Mewtwo since the first day he allied with him, and his treachery has done things that the Resistance could never dream of. But even more valuable is my psychic link to him. While he hides his thoughts completely, through it we both know that the other is still alive. And he also knows that if Mewtwo found me, he would drain me, and through our link Hellshriek would be drained as well. So he has done his best to convince Mewtwo to stay away from Saffron."

"So...what you're saying is that if Mewtwo doesn't find out about you, then he's almost definitely lost?" Ash asked, thinking he had it all figured out.

"We thought so, but lately it has been coming into doubt. Are you aware of the construction of Mewtwo's flagship, the Neptune?"

"Yes...in fact, we had a little confrontation with Hellshriek and a Mewtwo/Ditto right in front of it earlier today," Ash informed them.

"Our spies have reported that it will be launched out in a day or so. The destination, according to their reports, is Cinnabar Island."

The name triggered memories in Ash's mind of what little he knew about Mewtwo's history.

"Wasn't that where Mewtwo was made? Where the lab was, I mean?" Ash asked.

"Yes, the Genetech facility. It was supposed to be ruined long ago, and several eyewitness accounts have confirmed that the building is ravaged," Sabrina confirmed, a hint of her own bewilderment in her voice.

"But, why would Mewtwo be going to Cinnabar, then?" Rich asked.

"We...don't know. We only know that, if it required the construction of the largest battleship ever made, he cannot have good intentions planned.

"I...may be able to help with that," Jigglypuff said with a little hesitation. "Back in Cerulean, they were saying that they were going to attack Genetech, and..."

"Back at Cerulean?" Sabrina interrupted. "Ah, that reminds me. I was going to ask you, Rich, what you were doing bringing a General of Mewtwo's into this base," Sabrina asked, a faint tone of accusation in her voice. Rich was about to answer, but Jigglypuff answered for himself.

"I was less a General than his unwilling weapon. All Mewtwo wanted out of me was my song, which I couldn't sing right under mind control. He threatened me, hurt me, used I don't even know how many drugs on me, just so I'd sing my stupid song. I tried to run, I tried to fight, I even tried to kill myself, but Mewtwo was always one step ahead..." the pink puff whimpered, tears welling up in its big, round eyes. "Then...then he came," he said, gesturing toward Rich. "All that any Jigglypuff wants out of life is to find someone who can hear their song throughout. When Rich heard it, I stopped being afraid. Its was worth risking my life to follow him."

"How can we trust you, though? Once you are a soldier of Mewtwo's, then..." Sabrina started.

"I'll take full responsibility for Jigglypuff, ma'am," Rich interrupted. Sabrina gave him a threatening look, but relented.

"Very well. But I will warn you not to martyr yourself on every sad story you hear."

Jigglypuff, who had recovered from his emotions, cleared his throat. "If I can continue, I remember there being talk of going to the Genetech labs and recovering some kind of map. They've supposedly been struggling with whoever's on the island for a long time, whether they're actually Genetech scientists or not. They've put up quite a fight, supposedly; there was even some doubt as to whether or not the Neptune would be enough to beat them."

"Yes, I too have heard of a human base among the ruins of Cinnabar Island. I have never given the stories much acknowledgement, but perhaps it is time we looked more closely into them, and soon," Sabrina said. She looked up at a clock on her wall. "At any rate, it can wait until tomorrow. It has been a hard day, and I suggest you all get some rest."

She saw her guests out of the quarters, bidding them all good night. The door shut telepathically again, leaving the five in the now-darker corridor. None of them had actually seen the time, but it was clearly late.

"Psyyy," Psyduck complained. His exhaustion was apparent in his face, as with everyone else's.

"Why can't Psyduck talk, Misty? I thought you said his mind got a tune-  
up," Ash asked.

"He doesn't have the right vocal cords. If he knew every language on Earth, he still couldn't say anything other than 'Psyduck.' He can usually use telepathy, too, but the Psy Inhibitors prevent us from sensing it. Hey, what about that Pikachu of yours? What ever happened to him?" Misty asked.

Ash paused for a moment, hit with sudden grief. In the joy of recovering Misty and the ferocity of the battle, he had forgotten all about his lost friends. It felt like he was dishonoring them by not respecting their memories, yet at the same time he had a strange feeling that they weren't dead at all, yet.

"He's gone. Not even for a day, yet," Ash replied, depression sticking to his throat.

"Oh┘I'm sorry. I didn't know," Misty apologized in a sad voice of her own.

"No, its fine. I guess I'm just in denial about it, but┘its hard to describe, but I know Pikachu's still alive, somewhere. I've always had some kind of link with him, kinda like the Psychic Trainers have with their pokemon. I don't know where he is, I don't know what he's doing, but I just know he's somewhere, and he's alright." He stopped, thinking over the possibilities he had feared. "At least for now."

Rich could see the doubt in Misty's eyes, the sadness she felt for Ash. She didn't believe him, as much as she wanted to, and Rich decided to vouch for him.

"I'd believe him, Misty. Those two are close, really close." Rich smiled as he realized exactly who he was talking to. "In fact, I can only think of one other person he'd rather be with." He snickered. "Anyway, there's something between him and that Pikachu, and I don't pretend to be able to explain it. Did you ever wonder how Ash could understand Pikachu? When he didn't speak English, I mean."

Misty had never really thought about that before, but now that it came up, it was kind of strange. She shrugged. "I guess you're right. What do you want to do to help him?"

"There's nothing I can do now. I just have to be satisfied with the fact that he's alive, somewhere out there. I'll do all I can when the time is right, but now I can only wait for that time to come."

Misty yawned. "You know I'll do all I can, too. For now, though, I think we should all go to sleep. Its been a long day for all of us."

There was a general exhausted murmur of agreement between the others. Misty led them to her usual sleeping spot, somewhere in the Northeast wing. There was the remainder of an easy chair and a bench, both of which were quite rigid and uncomfortable looking. Still, the only alternative was the floor, so Jigglypuff and Rich were relieved when Misty offered the furniture to them. Psyduck, though he was independent now, still thought the inside of a pokeball was quite comfortable. He recalled himself into one, and Misty explained that he had the ability to release himself at will, a trick he had been working on since before she had even 'caught' him.

"Even though it was annoying during battles, its really convenient now when we have to decide who sleeps where," she explained.

Ash and Misty were left with the cold, hard linoleum floor, nearly black with mildew. While it was still hard and dirty, Ash didn't think it was quite so cold with Misty so close to him.  
-


	8. November 2007: Author's Interlude

Author's Rant

Sweet Christmas, why didn't anyone tell me that the formatting was all shot to Hell? For serious; I clearly remember dutifully double-spacing between scene changes, but the site refuses to allow that kind of thing in their editing utility, so in the meantime, please enjoy actual line breaks. It's also only just come to my attention that my old és have gotten all screwed up; I will do my best to address this issue. My fifteen-year-old self stumbled into the unreadable often enough with his dialogue and word choices; the least that I can do now is give you a readable format.

Thanks to those of you who have read and reviewed. I don't think that the fandom is quite what it once was – it's a lot less horny for one thing, or at least it doesn't have as much of an outlet as once it did – but it's good to know that this old klunker can still get some smiles.

We're about halfway through the material I have saved. I encourage everyone – those of you waiting for the next installment and those of you just joining us – to keep a patient mind with this fic such as one might keep while watching a B-movie. I mean, seriously – could Hellshriek, with his big, big Alakazam mind, really think that Mewtwo's armies had never recovered a single gun before? I mean, yeah, you never do see them in the pokemon setting so we can assume they're rare, but this is exactly the kind of issue I should have addressed a little more. If I ever do get back to writing this, and I will admit that I'm tempted, I'm going to have to bring a big old bucket of tar to patch up all these plotholes.

-His Freshness

P.S. I am sorry about the bleeps. I'm taking steps to address those, as well. This fic was first published on a site with very set rules on cursing, and I have neglected to proofread everything.


	9. Through Hill and Dale

Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust Part 7

Through Hill and Dale

* * *

The dark passages of the Unknown Dungeon rolled by unchanging as Gary continued his labored march, carrying Todd over his shoulders (the Fireman's Hang, for the First Aid savvy). Pikachu ran alongside them, giving the group a little light to continue by with his Flash technique. Pikachu was beginning to slow down after the long walk, but Gary, surprisingly, was still going strong without so much as a drop of sweat. Pikachu, who was exhausted, looked up at Gary in bewilderment.

"How are you holding up?" Pikachu asked.

"Who, me? Just peachy. If there's one thing I love, its carrying grown men mile after mile through an underground maze," Gary said sarcastically. "How the Hell do you think I'm holding up?!" he snapped.

"I don't know, you seem to be doing pretty good, considering you're walking for two, now," Todd speculated.

"Yeah, I guess I am," Gary said without much enthusiasm. It seemed they had hit a point Gary wasn't anxious to discuss, and since Todd was in no position to demand anything of Gary, he didn't press the subject anymore. They continued on in silence for what seemed like hours, but could have been anywhere from minutes to days for all they could keep time.

The silence of the caverns was becoming absolutely maddening as the three continued on without a word. The only sounds were the soft patters of Pikachu's feet and the heavier steps of Gary's. In between the footsteps, the surrounding quiet always crept in again, the kind of thick, pervading silence which only exists in the deep, uninhabited places of the Earth. Pikachu was going to lose it he had to bear the quiet much longer, so he brought himself to ask the question that was probably first and foremost on his mind.

"Are we almost there?" the yellow mouse asked Gary. Gary frowned, his nerves frayed to nothing by the silence.

"How the Hell should I know? I've just been guessing which ways to go," Gary responded, a clear tone of aggravation in his voice. This was probably the most un-encouraging thing he could possibly have said, as Todd and Pikachu had both been expecting Gary to lead them out.

"Guessing?! You said you knew this place up and down!" Todd shouted. His mouth, of course, was right next to Gary's ear, and Gary was practically driven deaf. As he recoiled, he let go of Todd's arms, causing Todd to slide off his back and toward the ground. In a desperate attempt to stop falling, Todd clasped his hands together, so as he slid quickly down Gary's back, his linked hands pressed hard against Gary's throat, quite effectively strangling him.

"Ack...ACKKK!" Gary gasped, his airway blocked. His hands went instinctively to his own throat, struggling to separate Todd's hands and free himself. Todd eventually realized what he was doing and let go, hitting the ground with a thud. Gary leaned against the wall, breathing deeply through his clenched teeth.

"Damn it!" Gary shouted in aggravation. The whole strangling incident pushed him over the edge, and he clenched his hands into tight fists. Todd and Pikachu inched back, fearing that they might be the subjects of his anger. Luckily, Gary chose to took a more pacifist approach, if that's what it could be called.

"Damn it, I've had ENOUGH!" Gary exasperated. He lifted one fist back and slammed it into the stone wall of the narrow passageway. Todd and Pikachu were shocked to see the stone actually crack at the impact, but Gary continued to loose his anger. He delivered several more punches to the wall, and the whole cavern began shaking with each impact. Finally, with a large series of cracks and missing stones in the wall, Gary sat down against the bruised wall.

"Alright, just needed to let that out. We can keep going now," he said in a disturbingly calm voice. Todd and Pikachu just stared on with open jaws. Gary gave them an odd look, wondering what they were gawking at, then he followed their eyes to the dent he had left.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess you haven't seen anything like that before, have you?" he asked, a little embarrassed, a little proud.

"Not from a human," Todd answered, still in shock.

"Holy shit," Pikachu said to himself in wonder.

"Yeah, the first thing you get for being high up with Mewtwo is a nice little genetic tune-up. I got strength and speed, like most, but there were other traits you can mix and match. Whatever; if I'd known I'd be paying for it like this, I would've run as fast I could the other way."

"Oh," Todd said, still not entirely understanding the situation.

"Anyway, we should get moving. We need to check as many passages as possible before we die of thirst, if we have any hope of leaving this shit hole," Gary said, in an attempt to be optimistic. He lifted Todd back over his shoulders.

"That reminds me," Todd said, being careful to keep his voice down this time. "I thought you said you knew this dungeon well. So why are we guessing which tunnels to go down?"

"I meant I knew the Guard complex really well, and we haven't even gotten there yet. If we can make it there, we may have a chance. But we've only been in the Central Labyrinth this whole time, and I don't think even Mewtwo himself knows it by heart. They just know where the cells are, so they teleport prisoners in without going through the maze."

"So, you're saying..." Pikachu began.

"...We couldn't find our way out of this place with a map," Gary finished.

With that, Todd and Pikachu's hope was stamped out like a fire. They continued on, once more in complete silence. Pikachu was now thinking about Ash and Rich, but mostly Ash, and was wondering what had happened to them. All that he remembered of how he had gotten into the prison was sitting in the cave, waiting for Ash to come back and make lunch. Suddenly, the cave was full of bright, white lights, which dimmed as suddenly as they had appeared. The very last thing he remembered was a watch, moving slowly back and forth, then complete darkness. And then, he was in the cell with Todd.

It wasn't until about that moment that he had really realized how miserable he was. He was exhausted, starving, thirsty, and now he wasn't sure they'd ever get out. Weakened, both physically and emotionally, his Flash technique began to dim.

"Hey!" Gary shouted. The surrounding shadows were creeping in as Pikachu got weaker and weaker, his Flash technique the only light the caverns had probably seen since the dawn of time. But, as the light dimmed, Gary saw something ahead that gave him a second wind of hope.

"Look!" He said excitedly. "There's another light up ahead!"

* * *

The base shook violently again, the shouts of explosions filling the air. The lights flickered on and off as the generators struggled to stay on. The air was nearly suffocating with the hot smell of blood and the thickening smoke.

Ash nearly lost his footing as the shockwave of the last explosion coursed through the base. Brock grabbed him and steadied him, and the frenzied retreat continued. The three friends were running hard alongside other resistance soldiers, but Ash looked back and saw their pursuer gaining on them. It was an Alakazam, floating after them by itself, but Ash could see it was well enough to kill each and every last one of them.

Ash's breath burned in his lungs, his feet feeling like lead as he ran exhaustingly. Ash looked frantically around, as if to find some answer or salvation, only seeing the exhausted faces of his comrades. Pikachu was running alongside him, gradually slowing down. Misty was almost finished. Togepi's crying was hardly audible over the sounds of the dying Resistance base. Even Brock, by far the most resolute among them, was reaching the end of his rope. And the Alakazam drew closer and closer to them.

Suddenly, Brock grabbed Ash's elbow, to get his attention. As Ash looked at him, he could already see death in his face. His last words were no more comforting.

"Keep running," Brock shouted over the loud bangs and crashes surrounding them. Ash looked at him puzzled for a moment. Then, abruptly, he lost sight of him, and with horror he realized that Brock had stopped running with them. He stopped midstride, Pikachu with him, and looked back. Brock lunged at the Alakazam, swiping at his jaw with one solid punch. Ash thought he heard Brock shout at him to keep running, and Misty for him to hurry, but he didn't hear either of them. The only thing he noticed was the Alakazam, glowing a bright blue, with a small trickle of blood going down his chin. Brock turned to face him bravely, and the lights flickered off again as the generator fought for a few more minutes of life. There was a brief flash of light from the Alakazam, and what Ash thought he heard was a scream.

The lights flickered back again. Ash heard another scream, not even fully realizing it was his own. Lying on the floor, eyes closed, was the lifeless body of Brock. Ash heard one last shout from behind him, then, suddenly, he heard the most deafening, hideous sound he had ever heard. It was like a mix between a death cry and grinding metal, and it seemed to tear right into the soul. Their was a bright flash of light, and a wave of heat, and what sounded like a surge of electricity. And then, there was nothing.

* * *

Ash woke with a start, bullets of cold sweat dripping down his forehead. He looked around, slowly regaining his bearings, seeing Jigglypuff lying sound asleep on the hard wooden bench. Rich was sitting up on the wooden skeleton of an easy chair, uncomfortably but deeply asleep. Misty was asleep on the floor next to him, and Pikachu┘

"Where's Pikachu?" Ash thought to himself, still in the daze which sleep puts in. Then, the memory of the last day's events returned, and his heart became heavy. He didn't cry; after so many losses, a man can cope easier with another loss when it comes. But the pain never goes. Yes, Ash thought, it seemed the only thing he could count on was his pain. With that thought, he fell into a hollow, dreamless sleep.

* * *

The fog in Vermillion harbor had grown as thick as wool, and still coming in thicker from the cold, dark sea. It was still hours from daybreak, so it was impossible to see very far in front of you. To the Charizard standing at the stern of the huge ship, it seemed like God himself was trying to prevent the Neptune from launching. Then, he thought it would take more than an act of God to stop Mewtwo at this point.

"I am glad you think so," a voice spoke into Charizard's mind. Turning around, he saw Mewtwo standing there, less than half his height but infinitely more powerful.

"If I may be so bold, how long have you been monitoring my thoughts, sir?" Charizard asked gruffly.

"A foolish question, Charizard, from a foolish creature. I have been monitoring the thoughts of all my servants, yourself included, from the moment they join me to the moment of their death. I assumed you knew that," Mewtwo replied.

"I am sorry, sir. I will try to think before I speak," Charizard said reluctantly. "Now, what have I done to be honored with your presence?" he asked, feigning reverence.

"Oh, spare me, Charizard. I do not know which is worse, the soldiers that betray me, or the insincerity of those that remain loyal," Mewtwo said with disgust. His eyes took on an eerie blue glow, and Charizard cringed in terror, realizing that he had seen Mewtwo look like this before. And he remembered what followed...

Charizard's thoughts were suddenly cut short as a blinding pain ripped through the fire pokemon's entire body. He writhed on the deck, his tail flaring brightly and lashing out. Occasionally, when his eyes opened a little involuntarily, he saw Mewtwo standing there, his glowing blue eyes staring unfeelingly at the tormented creature before him.

Then, suddenly, the pain stopped, and Charizard was left there on the deck, shivering despite his own enormous body heat. He barely managed to speak, but he figured he had to.

"Please...sir...," the Charizard begged sincerely. He wasn't really sorry for offending Mewtwo; he still thought little of the psychic, especially of how little provocation he needed to dispense unimaginable torture. But he was sincere in his plea, more for mercy than forgiveness. It seemed like his actions were rewarded, as well, as a blue glow enveloped his body and the pain was completely erased from his body and mind. He doubted Mewtwo had been fooled, just appeased.

"It is nothing. At any rate, I have a task for you. You should enjoy it; it will get you away from me for a while," the Psychic said coldly. Charizard was surprised by this statement. Surprised, and utterly terrified.

"As you may know, our raid yesterday on the Saffron area failed when met with unexpected opposition. You are to lead another expedition into Saffron and overcome whatever resistance you meet in that area. I will send troops with you, and several of my lieutenants. You will have command over the mission, and authority to act as you will to carry it out," the psychic pokemon explained.

"But what about your attack on Cinnabar? Wasn't I going to fight there?"

"Those were our plans, but our plans have changed. At any rate, if we fail at Cinnabar, it will not have been because of your absence," Mewtwo said.  
"I see. Alright, I accept," Charizard said.

"I never asked if you accepted or not," Mewtwo said callously. "You will be met by my lieutenants on the lower docks in 20 minutes, and will receive a contingent of troops adequate for your task. I would advise you not to get too cocky simply because I am leaving you in authority. You have seen what I do to failures." With those words, the psychic teleported away to deal with other business.

Charizard shivered as he thought of those quivering, wide-eyed husks of men and pokemon that Mewtwo had left of those who failed him in the past. It was true, he thought, that he was serving under a cruel tyrant. To serve Mewtwo was most likely suicide. But then, with his current status in the world and the dwindling numbers of his opposition, to oppose Mewtwo was definitely suicide.

* * *

In Sabrina's quarters at the Saffron gym, the former gym leader was sitting with several other people and pokemon, their hands linked and their eyes closed. It would seem they were having a sИance, but their true purpose was much more urgent.

The doors opened suddenly, and a pokeball was floating in the air by itself on the other side. Sabrina opened her eyes, and while most people would have been freaked out by something like this, Sabrina was actually quite relieved.

"I'm glad you could come on such short notice. I'm aware that its late, but we may have a situation on our hands," Sabrina said to the pokeball, without moving her lips. The pokeball suddenly opened by its own power, and a yellow platypus creature popped out.

"It is nothing. I know you would not call for me at this hour if it were not an emergency," Psyduck responded telepathically, with a voice that was deeper and more intelligent sounding than his nasal, physical voice. He floated up to the other people and pokemon assembled, all obviously Psychics, and he joined his hands in the circle they had made.

Putting forth immense concentration, the ring of psychics joined their minds and began to think as one. There perceptions slowly rose up and above the room, going higher and higher, until they felt as though they were floating above the Saffron gym. Then, they began their true purpose, moving their area of perception south along the beat-up, decrepit dirt road leading from Saffron to Vermillion city. At first, it seemed like the road was bare. However, one part of the road was not quite barren, but covered in a web of dark, unnatural shadows. And the web was not stagnant, either. It was moving north. Putting forth an even greater mental effort, the psychics breached this barrier, and were shocked and terrified by what they beheld beneath it.

Rows upon rows upon rows of troops, all bearing the emotionless faces standard of Mewtwo's slaves. There were men, some mounted on Rapidashes and Ponytas, some on foot, all armed with spears or bows or clubs or some other manner of weaponry. Electabuzzes and Polywraths, Golems and Magmars, Machamps and Hitmonchans, Scythers and Kengiskhans, pokemon of every element and type marching in rank and file underneath a swarm of Fearows, Dragonites and Beedrills flying in formation. At the lead of it all was a Charizard, fearsome to look upon, especially due to the presence of emotion and conscious thought on his face, its entire body glowing with its own enormous heat. Some other exceptionally strong pokemon followed close behind the large fire type, all of whom seemed to think for themselves, indicating high rank with Mewtwo, but none looked so strong or fearsome as that Charizard.

Then, suddenly, the psychics lost the vision, and let go of each others hands. Some passed out and fell to the floor; all were busy catching their breaths. The incredible strain of holding the vision against the army's psychic cloaking shield had been one thing, and the shock of seeing the huge force marching towards them was another.

"We...must call an assembly immediately," Sabrina said through her exhaustion.

* * *

Misty had slept soundly for the whole night, her sleep filled with pleasant dreams of the times she and Ash had spent together in the past. She had had those dreams many times, but this was the first time in three years they had made her happy, rather than wake her up in tears.

"Wake up, mom," a gentle voice said to her, as two small, stubby hands softly nudged her to get up. Her eyes opened slowly and reluctantly, but she had a smile on her face, realizing who was talking to her.

"Good morning, Togepi. Where were you last night?" Misty said drowsily.

"With Sabrina. She wanted me to tell you she's having an assembly now," Togepi said as though it were the weather. Misty found it more shocking, and sat up quickly from her sleeping bag.

"An assembly? Now?" she asked urgently. As her eyes fully opened, she saw there was a pokeball floating in the air next to Togepi.

"Oh, Uncle Psyduck wants you to turn off you Psy Inhibitor," Togepi said to Misty, acting as an interpreter as Psyduck spoke to Togepi through telepathy. Misty complied; it was commonplace for her to turn her Inhibitor off to communicate clearly with Psyduck, and she figured she would want to hear what he had to say now more than ever.

"Much better," the mental voice of Psyduck said from inside his pokeball. "I am terribly sorry to wake you so soon, but it is urgent. Earlier this morning, Togepi and I were summoned to a psychic congregation. During the meeting, we engaged in a joined clairvoyant excursion, and when we turned our view to the south, we saw something most alarming."

"Well? What is it?" Misty asked, almost annoyed at Psyduck. It was amazing; it was impossible to understand him with a Psy Inhibitor because all he could say was psy and duck, and it was nearly impossible to understand him without an Inhibitor because he was always so damned cryptic. He changed so much and yet so little. Still, Psyduck's next words were quite direct, and quite unsettling.

"An army. Saffron faced worse during the Psy War, but its more than enough to bury us all as we now are. They are heading north at an alarming speed, and if they continue at their current rate, they will be upon us with daybreak. Wake the others, we must hurry to the assembly," Psyduck rushed her.

"Alright, but that's easier said than done," Misty said as she leaned over to Ash, who was lying on the floor next to her. "Ash, wake up," she said as she shook him with her hands.

"Uhhhhh...no, Charizard, don't lie down now..." Ash groaned.

"Oh, just wake up!" she commanded as she knocked him on the head. This got Ash up quickly.

"Whoa, that brought back a lot of memories," Ash grunted as he sat up. "Any reason you're waking me up this early?"

"Sabrina's calling an assembly. Mewtwo's got an army on its way right here. Now hurry up and help me wake the others," Misty said as she got up from the floor and grabbed her backpack from where it was leaning against the wall. Ash did the same, and together they woke up Jigglypuff and Rich. Psyduck urged them to hurry, but Rich held him off.

"Please, I think I have something that will wake us all up a little bit more," Rich said as he got his backpack from next to the chair and dug his pokefulte out. He played a soft, gentle melody on it, but despite how soothing the sound was it instead seemed to take all the fatigue out of the group, completely waking them up. "It's a useful little trick, but it'll never replace a good cup of coffee."

"Psyduck says you won't find anything like that here, anyway," Togepi said, once again acting as an interpreter. "He keeps saying to hurry up, too."

"Alright, let's get going," Jigglypuff said as the group started down the hallway.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	10. Saffron Under Siege

Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust

Part 8: Saffron Under Siege

* * *

Gary suddenly stopped walking, signaling for Pikachu to stop as well. Todd, still being carried by Gary, had no real choice. The light seemed to be coming from right around the next corner, and Gary tiptoed forward, with amazing stealth especially with his burden, and pressed himself against the wall just before it bent towards the next, illuminated hallway.

"What are we stopping for?" Todd whispered.

"I don't think there are any guards down here, but I don't know. I've never actually been down here until now," Gary whispered back. He inched closer to the corner, poking as little as possible of his head around the corner. Todd tried to get a look too, but Gary pushed him back, afraid he would reveal them.

As the hallway became visible to him, though, it became apparent there was nothing much to hide from. The corridor was a cell block, much like the one they had come from themselves, with a small row of cells carved into the rock faced by a row of torches. It seemed like the cells were empty, though.

Suddenly, a voice came from one of the cells. "Alright, one, two, THREE!" On the last count, two bodies, one of a man and one of a pokemon were thrown against the bars. They seemed to press themselves against them, trying to break them or bend them or otherwise disable them. Finally, after a few minutes of this, the two shapes fell down.

Gary, seeing that these two were no threat at all as long as they were behind those bars, walked up to the cell. Gary immediately recognized the pair, just as the prisoners seemed to recognize Gary.

"Tracey? Marril? What are you two doing here?" Gary asked.

"Do we even have to tell you we were going to ask the same thing?" Tracey retorted. "I heard they locked you up and threw away the key."

"Ha, look who's talking! These two broke me out," Gary said, motioning to Todd and Pikachu. "Lucky bastards accidentally smuggled a Charizard down here. It looks like you found out the hard way that these bars are harder than they look."

"You can say that again," Tracey continued, rubbing his sore hand. "I don't know what kind of metal Mewtwo uses for these things, but it's the hardest stuff I've ever seen. Marril and I could put a dent in a Sherman tank if we really tried, but these bars won't budge for anything."

"Its no use trying to burrow through the walls, either. There's at least two hundred feet of solid stone in every direction," Marril said, still catching her breath.

"Well, the bars seem to melt after a while, so we could break you out if you want," Todd offered, grabbing Charizard's pokeball from his belt.

"Why not? It beats starving to death in this hell hole," Tracey said, his voice heavy with depression. It took about an hour to melt through the bars; whatever metal they were made of had to have high resistance to heat, if they could withstand the heat of Rich's Charizard for that long. Finally, Tracey and Marril were free.

"Now, if only we could get out of here, this would be almost perfect," Gary said, still having little hope for escape.

"It would be nice if I could walk, too," Todd said, shifting his weight around on Gary's back.

"What happened to you?" Tracey asked.

"Broke my leg in a fight with Mewtwo. Well, a Ditto made to look like Mewtwo, anyway," Todd recalled.

"The old stunt double strategy. Mewtwo does that a lot, putting Dittos under his complete, personal control, transforming them into himself, and using them to make personal appearances without any personal risk," Tracey explained.

"I hope that Ditto didn't give you too hard of a time, if you're ever gonna take on Mewty himself. Dittos are never anywhere near as strong as the original, ya know," Gary followed up, ever ready to add another piece of pessimistic information to the mix. Todd was secretly filled with horror. Even that Mewtwo could have killed them all, if Ash hadn't thrown that chain of his at him. Todd wasn't sure what was so special about the chain, but he correctly guessed that it was just a chain with a Psy Inhibitor attached.

"Well, whatever the case, I may have something that can help you," Tracey offered.

"Oh, no. You don't mean the serum, do you?" Marril asked, apparently not liking something about this 'serum'.

"There's nothing else we can do, Marril. Its no skin off your back, anyway," Tracey replied.

"That's an ironic way to put it," she said, still very displeased.

"Why? What's bad about the serum?" Todd asked, suddenly alarmed.

"Nothing about the serum itself. Marril just doesn't enjoy how I store it," Tracey said, revealing little.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that you smuggled some kind of chemical down here?" Gary asked, surprised. "How'd you have the chance?"

"I've been storing it away for a while, in case of a rainy day."

"Where, might I ask?" Gary asked, starting to get annoyed. Tracey didn't answer this time, he just closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate.

"You may want to look away. This┘it can be a little gruesome," Tracey warned as he put his hand underneath his shirt, placing it over his lower stomach. Marril immediately shut her eyes and put her stubby hands over her ears, bracing herself for something apparently unpleasant. Gary and Todd continued watching, an action they soon regretted, as Tracey's face suddenly contorted in pain. He was struggling not to scream, and a patch of red began to form on his faded gray shirt as he forced his fingers through the skin. Now Gary and Todd looked away in horror, and Tracey finally fell to his knees, his face twisted in agony. After a little while more, it all stopped, and Tracey took his blood-soaked hand out from under his shirt. In his hand were a few small vials of liquid. He opened one of the vials and drank some of it.

"Oh my God, how could you..." Todd said in horror.

"Don't try that yourself; it would hurt a lot more," Tracey said, his voice still creaking in pain. "Aside from making me and Marril super strong, he dumbed down our bodies' pain receptors. I could get an arrow through my chest and it wouldn't hurt much more than a papercut." He took one of the blood-covered vials and held it out for Todd. "Here. You take some."

Todd was reluctant to touch the vial, but he eventually took it and sipped it. The liquid tasted horrible, and Todd was about to spit it up when Tracey thrust his clean hand over Todd's mouth.

"It tastes bad, I know, but it works miracles," he said, his voice already seeming to recover from the pain. The wound on his stomach was now more like a scrape. Todd swallowed the serum with a pained look on his face.

"What is this stuff?" Gary said as he looked at one of the vials.

"It's a regenerative serum, made mostly of concentrated Starmie blood; it's a stabilized carcinogen, causing rapid but controlled cell growth," Tracey explained.

"What does that mean?" Todd asked, not exactly up to par on biology.

"I think it means I can stop carrying you, now," Gary said as he dropped Todd on the floor.

"AHHH!" Todd screamed as he hit the ground. "Aw, shit, that hurt!"

"You have to give the serum more time. Its fast, but not instantaneous," Tracey explained. "Let's rest here for a few minutes. That should be enough."

"Sounds good to me," Pikachu said as he curled up on the wall. "I've been using Flash for the past couple hours without a break or food or anything. I could use a nap."

Tracey looked suspiciously at the sleeping mouse. "Where do I remember you from?" he asked Pikachu. Pikachu's ears perked up. His name clicked suddenly in Pikachu's mind. His hair was longer, and he had a beard now, and the most prominent new feature Pikachu noticed was the look of age and wear on his face, but he now saw that this was the same Tracey and the same Marril that had traveled around with Ash and Misty during the peaceful days before the Psy War.

Gary gave Tracey a surprised look. "You mean, you can tell one of these rats from another? They all look exactly the same!"

"Ah, Gary, Gary. Its been how many years since you started your pokemon journey and you still know so little about pokemon," Tracey said tauntingly as he knelt beside the Pikachu.

"Yeah, I see a resemblance, too," Marril said as she waddled up to Pikachu as well.

"You're Ash Kethcum's, aren't you?" Tracey asked. Pikachu nodded, smiling.

Todd and Gary were both visibly impressed at this. "Whoa, how can you tell?" Todd asked.

"I traveled with Ash for at least two years. I should hope I could recognize his pokemon," Tracey replied flatly. "Is Ash still alive? I've always wanted to see him again, especially after we left on such bad terms with each other."

"That reminds me, what ever happened between you two? Ash never wanted to talk about it," Pikachu asked, concerned suddenly.

"What do you mean? You were there, too," Tracey said, trying to find a way to prevent remembering that day himself.

"Yeah, but that was before the Psy War and all the mental stuff that went on. I knew you two were mad at each other, but I couldn't really tell what it was about," Pikachu reminded.

Tracey sighed as his memories went back to that day, nearly 6 years ago. "It was back in the days just before the Psy War, when Mewtwo was attracting as many free-thinking soldiers to him as he could get his deformed little hands on. Somehow, I forget how, the word reached me that Mewtwo wanted to build a newer, better world for everyone, and I like a jackass swallowed every bit of it. Ash could see through him, though, and I think Misty could too. She may just have wanted to go along with Ash on whichever road he took, but that's a whole other story altogether. Ash and I had a big argument about who was right, about which road was the best. We actually came down to fists before we finally went our separate ways, both of us with bloody faces." He paused for a second, letting it sink in for himself as much as everyone else. "You can't even begin to imagine what an asshole I felt like when I found out what Mewtwo was really doing with the world. Now, here I am in the jail of the same maniac I expected would heal the world."

"Hey, I went through that, too. Then again, its really not as ironic for me," Gary said. "I think we all owe Ash a visit when we get out of this place." Pikachu was surprised he had said 'when' and not 'if', but it seemed like even Gary was getting more hopeful.

"Agreed," Tracey said gruffly. "Now, lets get moving..."

* * *

People and pokemon were crowded into the main arena, just like they were when Ash and Rich first came to the gym, but there was a much more solemn mood to it. Sabrina was waiting silently on an elevated platform at the front of the room, and the room was quiet as a tomb except for the soft flickering of the few wan torches that shed dancing orange lights and shadows throughout the room. The gym pattern on the floor was completely invisible under the feet of the Resisters crowded into the room.

"Is it bad?" Ash asked silently as they entered the room. Misty nodded solemnly. It was bad.

It was a few more minutes, during which time many more Resisters entered the room, before Sabrina finally spoke.

"My friends, the day we have all feared is finally upon us," she said gravely. "Even as I speak, an army of Mewtwo's slaves is on its ways to this stronghold, and the odds are too heavily set against us. Never again shall we meet in this arena. Today, Saffron dies." She stopped for a moment, letting the sudden news sink in. There was a good deal of alarmed chatter. Sabrina went on.

"The battle is hopeless for us. If you fight, you will not see another sunset, or else only through a slave's eyes. If you choose to leave this city while you can and live on, no one will think lesser of you for it." She paused again, this time pointing the palm of her hand at the wall where weapons were racked up. A wooden staff flew telekinetically into her waiting hand, which closed eagerly around its handle. "For the rest of us, the time for running and hiding has ended. If the age of freedom is truly over, then let it be known to Mewtwo that the last of the free did not die quietly. Let it be known that we fought until the bitterest end"  
Sabrina paused, waiting for whoever wanted to run and live to leave. With amazed eyes, she saw that not one soul in the room moved. She found her gaze met with proud, brave eyes. The eyes of men, women, and pokemon willing to give their lives in battle. Sabrina smiled, and Ash thought he saw a tear roll down her cheek.

"The time is nearly upon us, then," Sabrina said solemnly, regaining her stature. "Bid your loved ones farewell and finish whatever business you have. Then, bring your finest weapons and armor to the rampart, and as the sun rises we shall charge, and in their deaths and ours we shall free at least some of the thralls of Mewtwo from their grizzly futures, before we, perhaps the last of the free, pass on from this world. Now go, and make ready. Meet on the rampart in two hours, and we shall charge on Mewtwo's forces and shed first blood." With that, her aura flared brightly for a split second, and she teleported away.

The room sprang to life suddenly, the primitive weapons and armor on the wall being taken down by the dozens. Some of the Resisters left the room, having some business or another to attend to. And, by the looks of how many couples left hand in hand, shutting doors behind them, it could be guessed what a lot of this business was. Ash started to speak.

"Misty, there's something I've been meaning to tell you, and it..."

"Shut up, Ash," Misty interrupted him as she locked her arms around him and covered his mouth with hers. He was initially shocked, but quickly recovered and returned the embrace.

"Psy, psyduck," Psyduck commented, his bill curving up in a smile.

"What do you mean, uncle Psyduck?" Togepi asked.

"What did he say?" Rich asked.

"Something like 'its about time'," Togepi answered.

Rich smiled. "Took the words right out of my mouth. Come on, let's let them share their last moments by themselves." Ash and Misty didn't even hear those words, or notice the others leaving. In a short period of time, the rest of the Resisters left the room arrayed in primitive armor, leaving Ash and Misty alone in the large arena. They remained lost in each other's lips for a long time, but neither cared about time at the moment. They were together. That was all that mattered.

After however long it lasted, their lips finally separated, though they remained in each other's arms.

"I love you," Ash finally confessed softly. "I always have. I always will."

Misty smiled, tears welling up in her loving blue eyes. "I love you too, Ash."

The two kissed again, and once more the world and all its strife was forgotten.

"You know, I've never actually seen a sunrise," Jigglypuff said to Rich. "I hope I actually get to see it today."

"If missing the sunrise is the worst thing that happens to you today, consider yourself lucky," Rich said, the impending doom weighing heavily on him. He took a pokeball off of his belt and through it out, releasing the large Rhydon therein. He grabbed its side and swung himself on top, mounting the ground pokemon like a horse. Rich extended his hand to Jigglypuff.

"Want a ride?" he asked to the pink puff.

"On that thing? I don't know, I'm not sure if I want to trust it," Jigglypuff said nervously, marveling at the creature that was at least five times his size.

"What, you're afraid of little old Rhydon? He won't hurt you," Rich insisted, his hand still extended to Jigglypuff.

Jigglypuff sighed. "Alright. I'm just nervous; this thing heard my song, like you, so now its completely immune to my singing. I couldn't even stun this thing if I wanted to." He grabbed Riches hand and swung himself up behind him.

"What? You mean I'm immune to your singing now?" Rich asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, you didn't know? If you listen to a Jigglypuff's whole song, you become immune to that Puff's singing forever. Even without your flute, I couldn't put you to sleep," Jigglypuff explained.

"Cool," Rich said as he drew his machete and waited for the signal to charge.

* * *

Charizard was waiting in the streets about 3 miles down the road from the Saffron City gym, Mewtwo's army gathered in rows behind him. A Gengar mysteriously floated out of the ground in front of him.

"Back so soon?" Charizard asked to the black ghost.

"It didn't take much scouting to figure out their plan," Gengar answered. "They're gathering in front of the gym. It looks like they found out we were coming and they want the first attack."

"Then let's give it to them, then," Charizard said, his voice indicating his scheming. "You take a part of the army, and put your Ghosts in front to buffer their assault. I'll go around with the rest of the troops and attack them from the back."

"Alright. See you after the battle," Gengar said with the same smile that seemed engrained on his face forever. Charizard turned around and stomped off to the east, more than half the army following him with that same emotionless look they had worn since their slavery began.

As soon as the large Fire-type was out of sight, a Haunter floated up to the Gengar.

"Are we going through with what we discussed?" the legless ghost asked.

"Yes. Follow my lead until I give the signal. You know the plan after that," Gengar answered.

* * *

The torches in the arena had gone down even more, making the large room seem more like a cave then part of a building. Ash and Misty wouldn't have cared any more if the room were pitch black, or brightly lit and full of people. All that mattered was that after all the years of confusion and searching, the pieces had all fallen into place and they were finally in each other's arms.

But it was not to last. Psyduck's pokeball floated into the room, it's respective pokemon still inside of it, with Togepi waddling next to it.

"Uncle Psyduck says he's sorry, but its now or never," Togepi interpreted, not really understanding what she was saying.

Ash and Misty broke off again, staring at each other as if making a choice. If the choice was theirs to make, they would have left the battle and all the ills of the world behind, and spent their lives out with each other. But it was not their choice. Mewtwo, the war, the extinction of freedom; all were cruel realities, just as the fact that, so soon after the two had found each other and shared their hearts, their time on Earth would come to an end.

"Alright," Ash consented, drawing his katana. "The battle is waiting for us."

Misty said nothing, drawing her two long, curved knives with a sad, solemn look on her face. Ash looked at her, sharing her sorrow, and the two linked their hands.  
"Let's go..."

A few minutes later...

Sabrina lowered her small telescope, not finding any visual presence of Mewtwo's army. That was a good sign; she didn't want the enemy to be too close at this point.

"Have you found anything yet, Marcel?" she asked to the Mr. Mime squatting next to her, busily probing the surrounding area with its mind.

"There's a large force to the south. If we marched along Brandywine Avenue, we would encounter them within twenty minutes," the clown psychic answered, not detecting the other army that was marching with a psychic shield.

"Then let's get a move on," Sabrina said as she picked up her staff. She held one end pointed out to the distance. "Resistance, advance!"

The entire army, hundreds, perhaps even thousands strong began to march forward. They had neither the training nor the time to march in any formation or file, but it didn't matter to any of them. When a man goes to a battle he knows he'll die in, he doesn't care how he enters the battle. Only how he fights it, and if there was one thing that army knew how to do, it was fight.

Ash and Misty were walking together among the Resistance forces, Psyduck still floating in his pokeball next to them and Togepi walking next to Misty. Just like the rest of the army, their faces were solemn enough for them to already be dead. There was nothing more to say, nothing more to do. This was it.

Suddenly, the front of the army stopped, with the rear catching up and the entire army forming very loose rows. At the front, Sabrina, Mr. Mime, and the rest of the front line were looking down the small ridge in front of them. There was a time when that ridge had been a wall of brick with another on the opposite side, and a road running down the middle with an overpass every here and there. Now, all that was left were some stray bricks on what was mostly a steep, dusty hill and some black concrete that memorialized a road. On this former road, below the Resistance, was the army marching against Saffron.

"Excellent," Sabrina said to her trusted Mr. Mime. "We've come at them from the side."

"Then its time," Marcel said gravely. Sabrina lifted her staff, signaling complete stillness to the Resistance. There was a moment of complete stillness, foreshadowing the madness to come.

"It has been an honor to serve you, ma'am," Marcel said as he gathered energy for the attack.

"It was a pleasure to know you, Marcel," Sabrina said sincerely, her staff still lifted. "Farewell, dear Marcel, until we meet in the next life!" With those words, she pointed her staff out and charged over the edge of the ridge, dust kicking up as she slid down its steep, dusty face. The rest of the Resistance followed, unsheathed weapons gleaming in the young sunlight and the light of Fire pokemon.

Ash and Misty stood still on the top of the ridge. They didn't care that the charging Resisters were almost trampling them, or that the battle was about to begin. They slipped into each other's arms, their calm seeming even calmer amid the surrounding chaos, and they shared one last kiss before they separated, weapons drawn, and charged together into the hands of fate.

Sabrina continued to lead the charge against the side of the marching army, which was only now beginning to realize the situation and prepare to defend, when something Sabrina hadn't anticipated happened. Dozens of black and violet shapes suddenly floated out of the ground eerily, each with smiles of mockery and malice etched onto their faces. Ghosts. The worst possible pokemon to meet in physical combat.

Sabrina continued steadfast, and the other Resistance soldiers didn't dare retreat even for all their fear. The famed psychic was the first to attack, leaping at a Ghastly and striking it with her staff. Normally, the staff would have passed harmlessly through the Ghost's immaterial body, but the Psychic energy that coursed from Sabrina through the staff made the crude weapon quite effective. The Ghastly seemed to pop like a soap bubble as what passed as its physical body destabilized.

Others, both Psychic and non-Psychic, were having trouble with the Ghosts. Psychics, who were the only ones who could really injure the Ghosts, were also very susceptible to their attacks, making their melees more like quick draws where an attack from either would kill the other. Usually, elemental attacks could at least injure Ghosts, but these particular Ghosts seemed exceptionally strong and the damage from anything other than a Psychic was negligible.

Ash attempted to slice a Haunter in half with his katana, but the blade had no effect. The Ghost, still smiling, blasted Ash to the ground with a beam of black energy and lifted its hands to finish him off.

"Ash!" Misty shouted in despair as she leapt between the two, meaning to intercept the attack.

"Misty, no!" Ash shouted as he rushed to get up, but it seemed like there was no time as the Haunter brought down its purple hands and shot out a black ball of sizzling energy, enough to mow over Misty, Ash, and whoever else was unlucky enough to be behind them. Suddenly, from behind Ash, a larger beam of violet energy shot forth, intercepting the ball, pushing back toward the Haunter, and dissolving the Ghost completely.

"Thanks, Togepi," Misty said as she looked around to see her egg pokemon catching its breath behind them. Suddenly, another Haunter appeared behind Misty, its hands in the air to perform some kind of attack on the unwary girl.

"Mom! Watch out!" Togepi shouted. Misty, instantly on guard, swung around with both curved knives in an attack that would have taken down most organic opponents. But the Haunter was unfazed, and with Togepi drained from its last attack, they were helpless to defend. Suddenly, an object like a violet comet whizzed through the Haunter, destroying the ghost completely, stopping abruptly as it came before Misty, Ash, and Togepi. Now that it had stopped, the object was visible as a floating pokeball with a bright violet aura around it.

"Thanks, Uncle Psyduck!" Togepi called out. The pokeball seemed to nod, then whizzed off again. Ash got up again, his katana firm in his hand as he looked for a target he could actually injure.

Rich's Rhydon, with Rich and Jigglypuff riding on its back, charged headlong into the ghostly van, but the large ground pokemon suddenly reared up in terror.

"Whoa, Rhydon! What is it?!" Rich shouted in confusion. The Rhydon continued to buck like a mad bull, its terrified roars flooding the battlefield. It was an unnatural fear, the direct, intended result of the Ghosts attacks, but it was still very powerful. Rich fumbled on his belt for Rhydon's pokeball and was about to recall the large pokemon when he and Jigglypuff were both violently thrown off his back. Rhydon quickly collapsed entirely, his body almost instantly covered with marauding ghosts.

"Rhydon, NO!" Rich shouted vainly as he rushed back vainly to save his friend. Jigglypuff didn't follow after him, thinking if there was anything he could do. He wasn't sure if his song would work against Ghosts, but to save his master's pokemon, he would have to try.

Unfortunately, just as things were seeming as bad as they could possibly get for the Resistance, they got even worse. Jigglypuff closed his eyes and began to sing his song, but before he could sing even the first bar he was blasted to the outskirts of the battle by a large blast of fire that only barely missed him. He stood up again, but was suddenly bathed by fire from behind. The flames blew him back a short distance, badly injured. But, even though they look soft, Jigglypuff's are built to take a lot of punishment, and Jigglypuff forced himself up to his feet as he watched his attacker descend in front of him on his two large wings.

"Ha, forget two birds; I just killed the whole damn nest in one stone!" Charizard mocked as he landed, shaking the earth with his mass, in front of Jigglypuff. "The end of the Resistance, the capture of Sabrina, the fumigation of Saffron, AND the finding of Mewtwo's little pudgy guinea pig. Oh, Mewtwo's been so upset with you gone; he doesn't have anyone to stick those syringes into anymore."

Jigglypuff inflated in anger. "Why are you doing this, Charizard? You know Mewtwo's going to do the same to you as he did to me. In case you hadn't noticed, there have been a lot of unaccounted absences with the Generals. What do you think happened to them?"

Charizard just smiled. "I hate to break it to you, puffy, but love him or hate him, Mewtwo's in charge now, and nothing's going to change that. I know I stand a good chance to wake up with my head in a collar and my body full of chemicals and sensors, but hell..." Charizard suddenly launched Jigglypuff back with a strong whip of his tail. "...It's moments like this that make it all worthwhile!"

The fiery lizard leapt into the air, suspended by his spanned wings. Along the same ridge that Sabrina had led her own forces down, a second army of Mewtwo's slaves quickly gathered, large than the one the Resistance was currently fighting. Charizard spat a burst of flame up into the air and swooped down like a hawk from hell, his army following him as they charged down the ridge.

"Another army! Coming from..." A Resistance soldier attempted to shout before a nearby Ivysaur launched out its Vine Whip, catching it around his neck, and lashing the man at the ground with lethal force. Still, enough soldiers had heard the warning that they were not completely surprised. They were, however, completely surrounded...

* * *

"Heh heh heh, what an interesting slaughter this is turning out to be," Hellshriek chuckled as he watched the battle psychically from the safety of the bridge of the Neptune.

"Why are you so worried that Sabrina has been found alive after all this time?" Mewtwo asked to the insane Alakazam. Hellshriek scowled at the question, not knowing what to make of it. In his excitement at the unfolding carnage he hadn't even noticed Sabrina. Though he wouldn't admit it, Mewtwo's words were becoming real: his bloodlust was leading to his undoing.

"Um, why, I'm not worried at all, my lordship. I'm just surprised to see..." Hellshriek stopped the lie mid sentence when Mewtwo's eyes took on a glow that said he'd be sorry if he didn't tell the truth immediately. "If you drain her as you have drained the others, then I shall be drained as well through our link," Hellshriek reluctantly admitted.

"Your link? Then you have known that she was alive for all these years, true?" Mewtwo asked, slight anger in his voice.

"No...I mean yes...I mean...AHHHHHH!" Hellshriek was cut off as Mewtwo's eyes flared a violent shade of blue, his aura shining bright as he focused a good deal of his considerable power toward the sole purpose of causing Hellshriek on pain. The Alakazam only screamed for a few moments before his lungs ran out of air to expel, and the pain was too great for him even to inhale again. And still Mewtwo didn't relent.

"Fool! How dare you oppose me so directly!" Mewtwo demanded. Hellshriek was terrified by Mewtwo's anger; he hadn't seen the Great Psychic angry many times, but when he was angered, someone always died. "You have known full well how much I desired to recover the Saffron gym leader, but you said nothing!?" Without even lifting his hand, Mewtwo flung Hellshriek into a nearby steel wall and kept him there, shaking the entire battleship with the impact and breaking more than a few bones in Hellshriek's body. The Alakazam felt like the entire world was weighing down on him, crushing him, as Mewtwo casually walked up to him. "In light of your inherent usefulness and past service, I shall spare your paltry life." With that, Mewtwo's eyes and aura lost their glow, and Hellshriek fell from the wall and collapsed into a heap on the floor, gasping for air.

"But make no mistake. If you cross me once more..." To illustrate his point, Mewtwo sent another wave of pain through Hellshriek, causing his body to lash once violently as though it had been electrocuted. "...I will kill you." The Great Psychic then walked away, calming down and gathering his thoughts, as he focused his mind on his fiery servant many miles away.

* * *

"Charizard," a familiar voice rang in the fire pokemon's mind.

"Yes, Lord Mewtwo?" Charizard answered as he spat the remains of a Resistance Fearow out of his jaws.

"The leader of the Saffron gym is alive, and fighting in that battle," Mewtwo continued. "See to it that she survives, and take her into custody. Hold her at the Cerulean stronghold until I return."

"Yes, sir," Charizard replied, searching the field for Sabrina.

"If she slips through my finger again, Charizard, I shall hold you personally responsible," was Mewtwo's final message. Mewtwo was probably the only thing on Earth that could cause Charizard fear, but he could cause more than enough at some times.

This was one of those times.

* * *

Sabrina and Marcel had efficiently carved their way through the Ghosts and were more than holding their own. The sun was only barely beginning to rise, but the sky was still bright from the psychic blasts and other brilliant lights caused by the two Psychics.

"I believe we are faring admirably, my lady," the Mr. Mime said as he fired a Psybeam at a nearby Arbok, reducing it to a mindless, quivering sack of flesh.

"Never underestimate Mewtwo, Marcel," Sabrina said solemnly as she knocked the head off a Golem with her staff, her strength assisted by her telekinesis. "The tide could turn any moment."

"That it can, my lady!" Charizard said sarcastically as he swooped in from above. Caught by surprise, Marcel was completely overwhelmed as the fiery lizard drove himself down, crushing the Mr. Mime underneath his large, fiery claws.

"No! Marcel!!" Sabrina cried as she stepped toward Charizard, who was grinning as he twisted his foot back and forth to crush the Mr. Mime to a paste. A step was all the distance Sabrina got, as a Beedril suddenly swooped down and, taking advantage of her lowered guard, drove its poisoned stinger into her neck. Even if Mewtwo did allow it to think consciously, the insect would have had no time to take pride in its attack, as Sabrina quickly lifted her hand at it and blasted it into oblivion. She made no attempt to use Recover on the wound, letting her blood drip seemingly unnoticed down her neck as she and Charizard stared each other down.

"No...Marcel..." Sabrina whispered weakly before the swift poison overpowered her and she fell unconscious to the ground.

Charizard grinned devilishly as he approached the fallen psychic. He clasped his fingers around her, burning her with his own enormous body heat. He spanned his wings and was about to take off with his prize when he met with more interference.

"Put her down, you monster!" Misty shouted as she leapt at Charizard, driving one of her long, curved knives into the lizard's gut. Charizard roared in pain, dropping Sabrina and clasping the knife, along with Misty's arm. He ripped the blade out of his stomach, his boiling hot blood steaming as it bled out, and held Misty out at arm's length in the air.

"You're gonna burn for that, bitch!" Charizard growled as he breathed in to let out a Flamethrower. Luckily, before he released the deadly flames, Ash leapt onto his back and held out his katana to take a slice at Charizard's throat. Charizard, smiling, dropped Misty and suddenly made a short hop backwards, as if to do a back flip, but instead causing a minor earthquake as he landed square on his back. This was clearly his intention, as Ash was all but crushed to death underneath him. Ash coughed, causing tiny specks of blood to spurt out of his mouth, and his body felt like it was on fire with pain. Charizard stood up again, looking down at his victim when a look of recognition suddenly crawled across his face.

"Sabrina!" Misty shouted as she shook the sweating, fever-stricken body of the famed psychic. "Please, Sabrina, wake up!"

With great effort, her eyelids opened, pain and exhaustion written across her face. She reached into her pocket and held out her quivering hand to Misty. In it was a small key, which Misty took with a questioning look.

"Cinnabar...you must go to...Cinnabar..." Sabrina said painfully. "Go...Pallet Harbor...it will get you there fast..." Then, the poison overtook her completely and her body went limp. Not quite dead, but not very alive either.

"Sabrina!" Misty called to her unconscious friend. "SABRINA!"

"Son of a bitch," Charizard said viciously as his lips curled into a smile of recognition and vendetta. "I thought you were dead. Oh, well," he said as he lifted up his huge orange foot. "Now, I'm gonna know for sure!"

Ash was powerless to move, completely defenseless against the fiery pokemon. Luckily, Psyduck came through for them again, shooting forward in his pokeball like a comet and ramming into Charizard. The two pokemon struggled against each other for a while, giving Togepi to rush in, under Psyduck's instruction, and use Recover on Ash. The little egg waddled over to Marcel to heal him, then Sabrina, when suddenly Charizard gained the upper hand in his struggle against Psyduck. With enormous strength, Charizard brought his arms down, against Psyduck's incredible telekinetic resistance, and grabbed the pokeball containing the Psychic platypus. Struggling all the while against Psyduck's telekinetic opposition, Charizard lifted the pokeball above his head and threw it at Togepi with such amazing force that Psyduck was powerless to do anything. The pokeball smacked into Togepi like a cannoball, knocking out both pokemon unconscious.

Charizard looked in front of him at Ash and Misty, both holding their weapons ready for battle. Charizard knew he could kill them both, but he didn't want to risk Sabrina being injured in their battle. He knew what Mewtwo would do to him if Sabrina died, so he decided it was best to take Sabrina out of there as soon as possible.

"Another day," Charizard said as he flew up with beats of his powerful wings. He turned around and sped off, not even slowing down as he lowered his legs and picked up Sabrina, and he continued to move away from the battle.

"Come back here!" Ash shouted back.

"Sabrina!" Misty called vainly.

Not knowing what to do, but acutely aware that there was still a battle to be fought, they lowered their eyes to look at the battle around them.

But they didn't see the battle, or at least they didn't notice it so much since it was behind the Ghosts right in front of them. Ash and Misty looked around in panic, and saw that a tight ring of Haunters, Gengars, and Ghastlies had formed around them, a menacing grin on each of them.

One large Gengar, seemingly some kind of leader, looked around him, noticing that a large number of Resisters and Mewtwo's slaves locked in combat behind them. The Resistance's numbers seemed to be dwindling. The Gengar's smile seemed to grow broader.

"All right, on my signal," Gengar commanded as both of his hands developed vaporous black auras. Ash and Misty felt, quite accurately, like the condemned waiting before their firing squads.

"One!" Gengar counted.

Ash and Misty grabbed each other's hand.

"Two!"

Misty squeezed Ash's hand hard, letting him feel her fear.

"Goodbye, Ash," she said, her voice betraying how scared she was. Ash only squeezed her hand back.

"Goodbye, Misty."

"Three!" Gengar called out. Ash and Misty closed their eyes in anticipation of their coming dooms, but it turned out differently then they had planned. At the count of three, every one of the Ghosts did an about-face and fired their attacks out into the rest of the battlefield, striking down soldiers and pokemon everywhere. When their deaths seemed long overdue, Ash opened his eyes and was amazed to see that the Ghosts were not only NOT firing at the four of them, but they were firing at Mewtwo's slaves.

"What's going on?" Misty asked in confusion as she looked around. She got no answer from the Ghosts, who sped out in different directions with the same twisted grins plastered onto their faces.

* * *

"Wha...what happened?" Rich groaned as he slowly got up. He steadied himself on the face of the large slab of stone next to him, letting his head stop spinning. The battle seemed to be over, which was strange since he hadn't expected to survive it. When he had regained himself, his thoughts of the battle were driven out of his head as he realized with horror that that was no slab of stone he was leaning on.

"Oh my God..." Rich said in disbelief as he stepped back and looked at the lifeless body of his Rhydon. "Oh God, NO!"

"What is it with you people and your 'God', anyway?" an unfamiliar voice asked him. Rich looked up threateningly at its source, and he was a large Gengar sitting on Rhydon, his grin biting into Rich. "If 'God' cared a whit about this world, don't you think he would have done something about Mewtwo?"

"You bastards!" Rich shouted. "You killed Rhydon!" He firmed up his grip on his machete.

The Gengar gave a frustrated sigh. "First off, that knife's not going to get you anywhere against a Ghost. And second, you should be happy to hear that nobody killed your precious Rhydon. We merely stunned him."

As if to illustrate the point, Rhydon let out a load groan.

"Rhydon! You're alive!" Rich shouted happily as he hugged the ground pokemon as best he could considering his quite large size. Rich quickly remembered the Gengar watching him, though, and gave the Ghost a suspicious gaze.

"What do you want from me?" Rich asked bitterly.

"What do I want from you? Only to know that you and the Rhydon are alright, as well as Jigglypuff."

"Jigglypuff?" Rich asked, suddenly remembering his tiny friend. "Where is he!"

"He's needed in other places right now, letting those in pain find some comfort in sleep," Gengar answered. "Don't worry about the boy and the girl, either. They are alright as well."

"Ash and Misty? How do you know about them?" Rich pressed on with his questions, accusation still in his voice.

"They were the ones who sent me to check on you, of course," Gengar answered. "Now that you're both alright, I'd suggest recalling that Rhydon and following me this way." Rich opened his mouth, but was interrupted. "And before you even ask why you should follow me or where I'm taking you, I'll tell you that I can take you to your friends."

Rich was beginning to see that the Gengar had no intention of harming him, and he obediently recalled his Rhydon and followed.

Ash and Misty were sitting together on one of the high ridges overlooking the now-peaceful battlefield when Rich and Gengar approached them.

"Hey, guys," Rich greeted with a warm smile. "Did you miss me?"

"Rich! Thank God you're alright," Ash said as he stood up to greet his longtime friend.

"I see you've met Gengar," Misty said.

"Yeah, but...um, is he supposed to be an ally or something? Weren't the Ghosts attacking us before?" Rich asked, still confused.

"They only used non-lethal attacks against the Resistance, and they didn't kill a single one of us," Misty explained. "When they attacked Mewtwo's slave-  
soldiers, that was a different story."

Rich's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Wha?! I think I missed something."

Gengar chuckled. "Oh, I'd say. You may as well get the full story, so, listen carefully, this is a long one; I am one of the Ghost pokemon of Lavender Town. Years ago, just before the Psy War, Mewtwo came to the Pokemon Tower of Lavender Town and asked us to join him. He must have realized what a problem Ghosts could pose to a Psychic empire, but anyway, we agreed. At first, it was all fun and games, and we didn't see anything wrong with Mewtwo. But once he got going with the butchery they call Psy War, we started to think differently. There was nothing we could do, though, but wait for the proper time. And wait we did. Six long years we waited for this day, the day when Mewtwo and almost all of his forces would leave the scene for a little while. He expects to come back with his final victory, but instead he'll come back to the smoldering ruins of his empire and the entire free world united against him again."

"It sounds like you've really been planning this out," Rich commented.

"We've had a long time to," Gengar replied. "Now, with what's left of the Resistance on our side, whatever defenses Mewtwo has left at his Cerulean stronghold will be no match for us."

Misty looked sadly at the key Sabrina had given her. "What's going to happen to Sabrina?"

"The Psychic woman? Nothing," Gengar replied. "At least not until Mewtwo comes back, and we'll have everything under control by then. She's going to be taken to Mewtwo's Cerulean capital fortress until Mewtwo returns, so when we conquer the capital, we'll recover Sabrina."

This wasn't enough for Misty. Sabrina's words kept ringing in her head, about Cinnabar and the Pallet Harbor. "What about Cinnabar Island?"

"To be honest with you..." Gengar began. "That's the only gap in our whole plan. Its Mewtwo's destination, of course, but we don't know what he'll have with him when he comes back from there. For all we know, he could have grown a thousand times stronger from his visit, or become immortal, or gathered a new army , millions strong. It is the only factor we have not taken into account, and it has many of us very worried."

"Hey, Rich, Jigglypuff used to work for Mewtwo, didn't he?" Ash asked. "Maybe he knows something."

"I already told you all I know," the singing pokemon said as he waddled up to the group. "Rich, you're awake!"

"Jigglypuff! I...what happened to you?" Rich was shocked to see Jigglypuff's body very badly damaged, his short, round form riddled with burns, bruises, and bloody gashes.

"I had a run-in with General Charizard," Jigglypuff explained. Rich could now hear the physical pain in his voice. "He didn't even get many hits on me, but he's strong."

"Yeah, we met up with him, too," Ash said, a little anger in his voice at the hateful fire pokemon that had nearly killed them all. "The bastard flew off with Sabrina. I can't help but think I've seen him somewhere before, though."

"You noticed, too?" Misty asked.

"Enough about Charizard! We'll be dealing with him later, one way or the other," Gengar said impatiently. "Tell me what you know about Mewtwo's involvement on Cinnabar."

Jigglypuff cocked an eyebrow at the Ghost's rudeness, but answered. "I don't know any cold, hard facts, but I've heard a whole lot of rumors. Mostly I heard something about a map that will lead him to immortality."

Gengar was visibly shocked at this, his usual smirk turning into a look of sheer terror and shock.

"Then it is as we feared," Gengar said in a defeated tone. "If only there was a way we could take advantage of Mewtwo's absence as well as interfere with his mission on Cinnabar."

Misty looked at the key in her hand again. "Maybe there is a way."

"What do you mean?" Gengar asked, immediately interested.

"The last thing Sabrina told me before she was taken was to go to Cinnabar," Misty explained. "She mentioned something about Pallet Harbor, and gave me this key," she said as she displayed the key.

"Must be for a boat," Rich analyzed.

"So what if it is? We still can't beat Mewtwo to Cinnabar Island," Gengar said pessimistically.

"Nah, anything faster than a rowboat could outrun an elephant like the Neptune. If we can only get to a boat fast enough, we may have a chance," Jigglypuff said.

"Then we have to try," Misty said demandingly.

"Great! Then we'll take half of the Resistance and..." Ash began, hasty in his foolishness.

"Half? Are you mad?" Gengar accused. "We must have as many troops remaining here as possible to take advantage of Mewtwo's absence. Besides, our mission is not to confront Mewtwo directly; if that were the case, then an army five times our current size wouldn't suffice. We need speed and stealth, above all things."

"Alright, then who's a good group for that?" Rich asked.

"Why, you four look as good as any," Gengar said, thoroughly surprising them all.

"What!?" Ash blurted in confusion.

"I will accompany you, if you wish to go at all," Gengar offered.

Misty paused for a moment and looked at the key again. "I have to go. It was the last thing Sabrina told me to do, and I have to honor it."

"Oh, alright. I'll go if you go," Ash surrendered.

"I'll come too. I'd like to see with my own eyes what's so important to Mewtwo," Rich said.

"If Rich goes, I go," Jigglypuff said resolutely.

"Excellent. As I said, time is of the essence, so we should head out immediately. We can stay for a little while longer, until I have told the other Ghosts about the plan. Then, we must head west to Pallet Harbor at full speed..."

* * *


	11. On Our Way

Ash to Ash, Dust to Dust

Part 9: On Our Way

* * *

The five inmates were taking a break from their trek through the abys sal passageways of the Unknown Dungeon. Todd's leg had healed miraculously well, as had Tracey's self-inflicted stomach wound. Marril had been able to supply water since her body naturally generated it, but the group was beginning to feel the pain of hunger. There were no torches, the only dim light provided by Pikachu's Flash technique. The silence was intolerable down there, so the five struggled to keep conversation going in the hopes of offsetting madness.  
"So, Tracey," Pikachu started. "Maybe you don't want to talk about it, but what kind of work did you do for Mewtwo"  
"I was one of his scientists," Tracey replied, wistful but not heavily so. "Free-thinking scientists were very valuable to him, since our work requires a good deal of imaginative thought. I had a lot of side projects of my own, like that serum I have, but Mewtwo had us work most of the time on his own material. He had everyone doing different things, and it was all very different, but the other scientists and I eventually figured out it was all part of one project"  
"Well, what was the project?" Todd asked.  
"We never pieced it all together," Tracey replied. "All we know is that it involved a lot of advanced genetics. It was like we were building a genome from an incomplete model. At first, we all thought he wanted to make a clone of himself, but that made no sense when we realized he could have just taken his own DNA for that. There were a lot of crazy theories, and I wouldn't put any of them past Mewtwo, but we never knew for sure. And, since most of the other scientists had vanished before I wound up down here, maybe we'll ever know"  
"The other scientists disappeared?" Gary asked, intrigued. "Whoa, maybe the rumors ARE true"  
"Rumors? What rumors?" Marril asked.  
"You mean you haven't heard any?" Gary asked. "Heh, not surprising. You scientist-types never did get around much. On the other hand, a sexy, desirable creature like myself meets a lot of people, and hears a lot of things"  
"Get to the point," Pikachu said in irritation.  
"Rumor has it that Mewty boy is getting rid of all his conscious help, making his whole empire into a one-man show," Gary said. "There are a lot still working for him, but after the raid on Cinnabar even his strongest guys, like Hellshriek and Charizard and Jigglypuff, are all going to be shoveling crap and loving it for Mewtwo"  
"I haven't heard anything about that," Tracey said. "But it does make perfect sense. After Cinnabar falls, whatever Mewtwo gets from there is supposed to be all he needs to complete his plans by himself. He won't need any assistance after the raid, and Mewtwo doesn't keep unnecessary baggage for long." He sighed. "Which, of course, brings us here"  
Todd scowled. "If I could just get one good, clean shot on Mewtwo"  
"Then what would you do?" Tracey quickly pressed. "Even if you could get by his attacks, and his telekinesis, and his Psy shield, AND his enhanced perceptions, AND his telekinetically enhanced speed and teleportation, then he would still just Recover from any attack you could possibly deliver. Its one thing to rebel against Mewtwo; its quite another to challenge him directly"  
"Well, just as I start looking on the bright side more, we find a new Mr. Crush-everyone's-hopes," Gary said sarcastically.  
"I'm just being realistic, Gary," Tracey replied. "By any measure, Mewtwo is the strongest thing on this planet. We can't just walk up to him with a knife, or a gun...hell, you can't even walk up to him with a nuclear warhead and expect to hurt him"  
"Then you're saying this whole resistance is hopeless?" Todd asked.  
"In a way. I'm not saying its hopeless for the world though; Mewtwo may never be killed, but he's not immortal either. One day he'll die naturally, and this whole nightmare will be over," Tracey explained.  
"Its nice to have something to look forward..." Gary began. In the middle of his sentence, he shut his mouth tight, his eyes focusing like a hawk's on the shadows outside of Pikachu's Flash range. As slowly and silently as sap running down a tree, he stood up.  
"What's wrong?" Pikachu asked.  
Gary gave no response, just focusing on the shadows in silence. Then, with the speed of a bullet, he pounced forward with his fist. As he left the circle of light created by Pikachu's Flash, there was a sound like a grunt, then a chorus of other grunts accompanied by slapping and hitting sounds. Before the others could get up to see what was happening, Gary's bruised and battered body was thrown back into the circle of light. He was conscious, luckily, but in a load of pain.  
"Awwww, shit," Gary moaned.  
The rest of the group was now on their feet, ready to face whatever unknown terrors lurked in the dark. There was a slithering sound, but they couldn't see anything moving in the darkness. Suddenly, in the time it takes to blink an eye, a ring of purple, scaly flesh contracted on them all from out of the shadows, wrapping around them all.  
"Arrrbok," the giant snake pokemon hissed. It wrapped itself around them several more times, completely immobilizing them. Pikachu's Flash was completely consumed by the Arbok's purple coils, leaving the other four in complete darkness...

* * *

The survivors from Mewtwo's army marched onward, less than five of them having any sort of conscious thought. Charizard was among them, the look on his face even angrier than usual. Several large, fireproof bandages were wrapped around his body in different places. One of the more severe wounds was where Misty had drove her knife into him. The wound itself was actually nothing much, as most of Charizard's current injuries were, but it still caused him a good deal of pain. She didn't know it, but she was currently very high on Charizard's rather lengthy Hate list.  
And, equally unknowingly, so was Ash. Charizard's mind had been on Ash much since he discovered that the human was, in fact, still alive.  
"Ash," Charizard thought with malice. "Yes, that was his name. Ash. That weak fuck who made me a slave. To think that I actually listened to that asshole when I was a Charmander, but I guess I did a lot of stupid things when I was a kid. Thank God I got some brains when I evolved, and realized how pathetic that kid was. But even then, he still wanted to could control me." Charizard scowled at the memory of being left in that pokeball, that prison that had held him for so long. Now, at last, he was free. But he still intended to exact revenge on Ash, and all his tormentors.  
"I'll kill him, and the bitch that stabbed me. Just like Dameon." An evil grin grew on Charizard's face as he remembered that day during the Psy War when he met up with the trainer who had abused him and left him for dead. Charizard wondered where he was now; the wind had blown his ashes away when Charizard was done with him.  
Ash would be lucky if that much was left of him after Charizard was through, if only he didn't need to baby-sit the comatose Sabrina. He looked at the unconscious Psychic with contempt; he knew what Mewtwo would do to him if Sabrina was hurt at all, or if she escaped. Still, Charizard knew how potent Mewtwo's genetically-enhanced Beedril venom was, and Sabrina would be out cold for at least another day, and impossibly weaker for at least a week. Long enough, he thought, for the remainder of Mewtwo's troops to escort her to Cerulean, where she could be kept indefinitely.  
Finally, torn between the threat of physical pain and losing the opportunity for revenge, Charizard finally gave in to himself.  
"You," he addressed to a free-thinking Machoke. "You're in charge until I get back"  
"Where are you going?" the Machoke asked, already afraid it had asked too much of the Fire type, who's temper was notoriously as hot as his breath.  
"South. I have some personal business to deal with," Charizard said. "Don't let anything happen to Sabrina. If anything does...do you know what Mewtwo would do then"  
The Machoke shook his head, his eyes wide.  
"Imagine the worst pain you could possibly feel. Now multiply it by 20.  
That's about halfway to what Mewtwo will do to us if something happens to that Psychic broad. Get the point"  
Machoke nodded, fear on his face.  
"Good," Charizard said, leaping into the air and taking flight on his huge wings.

* * *

Charizard hadn't flapped his wings once before Mewtwo was aware of his plans. Charizard hadn't really taken Mewtwo into mind, which would have been a fatal error in other cases. Luckily for him, Mewtwo didn't care that Charizard was leaving Sabrina for his own purposes. Indeed, he had been considering sending Charizard after Ash and the others anyway, once he had been made aware of the plot of a certain small group of rebels. A plot to reach Cinnabar before him. This was perhaps the first action of the Resistance that Mewtwo truly cared about and felt the need to intervene directly with, as it jeopardized all of his plans. But while Mewtwo cared more for this plot of the Resistance than for any other, he still cared little about it. It was a small group, trying for speed rather than stealth or strength. They would be dealt with easily.  
The door to his chamber on the Neptune opened suddenly, revealing the four soldiers he had sent for. They each walked in, letting the door close behind them, and kneeled.  
"You sent for us, sir?" One, a human woman, asked.  
"Yes. As you may have heard, our attack on Saffron has failed, due mainly to the treachery of the Ghosts. We shall deal with them upon our return from Cinnabar, but right now there is a more urgent matter to be dealt with on the mainland. Several hours ago, one of my Dittos, in the form of a Resistance soldier, became aware of a small band of rebels, including the traitor, Jigglypuff, and one of the Ghosts to whom we owe our failure. Their intent is to reach Pallet Harbor, acquire a swift ship, and reach Cinnabar Island before us and ruin our plans. I do not know of anything they could possibly do to thwart me even if they reached Cinnabar before me, but I will not afford risks at this stage. You are to return to the mainland and hunt down the rebels. Take them alive, if you can. Otherwise, kill them"  
The four stood up, saluting. "Yes, sir!" The three of them capable of speech recited.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set behind the tall, tropical trees of the Safari Zone as the group of rebels against Mewtwo marched on.  
"Night's coming," Rich said as he looked up at the orange sky. "We had better find shelter"  
"We are in as much danger during the day as we are at night. We are making good time; we should not stop," Gengar insisted as he hovered along.  
"We still need to find some place to set up camp for the night. We have to sleep sometime," Misty said.  
"Speak for yourself," Gengar grumbled.  
"Excuse us for having real bodies," Ash spat. "Its been a long day. We should probably set up camp somewhere soon"  
"I don't know. The Safari Zone isn't the safest place in the world, these days. Mewtwo took most of the pokemon, but the ones that are still here are especially hostile to defend themselves," Jigglypuff warned.  
"We'll have to take our chances with them. We can't afford the time to backtrack and camp out of the jungle, and there's still a long way to go," Rich said. "We're going to have to spend at least one night in the Safari Zone"  
Ash yawned. "I don't know about the rest of you, but between getting up in the middle of the night and a battle, I'm bushed"  
"You said it," Misty agreed. "I say we find the first place we can and"  
"Wait! Stop!" Rich suddenly interrupted, pulling Misty and Ash back by their shoulders to stop them.  
"What is it?" Misty asked.  
"Look up ahead in the trail," Rich told him. "Do you see anything unusual"  
Everyone looked carefully, but no one saw anything.  
"What should we be seeing?" Ash asked.  
"Stand back for a second," Rich said. They listened, watching intently as Rich picked up a large rock from the side of the trail. Putting forth a little effort, he hurled the stone up ahead into the path. Rather than hit the ground with a thud, the rock instead seemed to break through the ground entirely with a sound like sticks snapping, leaving a small, gaping hole in the ground. From that hole, the rest of the ground in a five foot radius collapsed, leaving a pit. The group cautiously walked up and looked in. The bottom was lined in sharpened wooden poles, some of which had unmistakable red stains.  
"How did you know?" Jigglypuff asked.  
"Pits like this are pretty common these days. You have to know how to spot them if you want to live very long wandering abroad in this day and age," Rich explained. "I'm surprised you didn't spot it, Ash. You're getting sloppy"  
"No, I'm getting tired, and its getting dark," Ash countered. "There's a clearing right over there. We better set up camp somewhere while we still have a little light to go by." He heard his stomach grumble suddenly. "And I think it would do us all some good to eat something"  
"I thought no one would ever mention it," Jigglypuff said, relieved.

* * *

The group made it up to the clearing, luckily, without having to deal with any more traps. They surveyed the clearing as they entered it, and were relieved to see that it once been used as a campground. There was a very incomplete, almost indistinguishable fire ring, with some rotten logs for seating around it. At one time, they would have thought it was a shame to do this to the wilderness in a place where camping wasn't even supposed to be allowed. But now, nature had bigger things to worry about, and so did the travelers as they entered.  
"Alright, I'll see what we can do about food. We should probably let our pokemon out now to give them some time to stretch their legs," Rich suggested, taking three pokeballs off his belt and sending out his Abra, Rhydon, and Butterfree.  
"Good idea," Misty consented, taking two pokeballs off her belt and throwing them out. One opened up and released Togepi; the other seemed to turn around midair and fly back at Misty. She caught it, sighed, and put it back on her belt. "Alright, Psyduck. Be that way"  
"Since when do you keep Togepi in a pokeball?" Ash asked as he watched the egg waddle around.  
"Since she decided she didn't want to have to walk from place to place," Misty answered. "What about you? Don't you have any pokemon"  
"Only two left," Ash answered, a little sadly, as he pulled his only occupied pokeballs off his belt and threw them out. An Ivysaur and Abra popped out.  
"They're all that's left?" Misty asked. Ash nodded solemnly.  
"I had most of them in storage with Professor Oak when Pallet Town was attacked by Mewtwo. I was only carrying Bulbasaur, Pikachu, and Charizard with me then, and Charizard flew away before long. I had to catch Abra myself after the Psy War"  
"I'm sorry," Misty said. "The same thing happened with me. My sisters were borrowing all my pokemon, except Togepi and Psyduck, for their gym when Mewtwo decided to make Cerulean his home base"  
"I just pray to God that Pikachu's alright..."

* * *

Rich and Jigglypuff, meanwhile, were busily trying to build a fire. Jigglypuff was scouring around for kindling as Rich piled it up. He finally took out his flint stones and was about to start the fire when Gengar floated up in front of him.  
"Stop, you fool!" Gengar ordered. "What in damnation are you doing"  
"What does it look like? I'm starting a fire. We need a fire to cook food, you know"  
"You can't start a fire! Fires make smoke and light, as if we hadn't already spelled out our location to everything in this damned jungle, between the opened pit trap, our footprints, and all the noise we have been making," Gengar warned.  
"You're getting too paranoid," Jigglypuff said. "What makes you think there's anything but pokemon here"  
"I do not think there is anything except pokemon here. But something was intelligent enough to make that pit trap, and I would wager that whatever it is, it is still here," Gengar explained. "And if they made that trap, I doubt they will give us a very warm welcome when they find us"  
"IF they find us," Rich corrected.  
"There will be no 'if' about it if you start a fire. Once we get out of the Safari Zone, then perhaps you will be able to make a small cooking fire, but until then it is out of the question," Gengar ordered.  
Rich sighed. "If you insist." He kicked over the pile of kindling and walked back to Ash and Misty, Jigglypuff following close behind.  
"Well, what's for dinner?" Misty asked.  
Rich reached into his backpack and pulled out a bundle with cloth. "Cold, dried Tauros meat. Bon apetite. "Oh no, not again," Ash sighed.  
"Trust me, I'm every bit as thrilled about it as you are," Rich said as he sat down and unrolled the cloth, revealing dried strips of Tauros meat. "But Casper over there says we can't start a fire, so we're stuck with this again." He took two strips, handing one to Jigglypuff, and began to chew his own monotonously. He handed the cloth to Ash and Misty, both of whom took a strip.  
Misty bit into it. "Hey, this is pretty good," she complimented.  
"Thanks, but you'll get sick of it REAL fast," Ash said as he started to chew slowly.  
"Ash and I have been living off this stuff for a while now. A few weeks ago, we hunted down a nice, big Tauros and were able to preserve most of the meat. It was a godsend"  
"Yeah, but unfortunately God didn't send anything else to eat for the last few weeks," Ash said. "But it's a lot better than nothing, I guess"  
They distributed some of the meat to their pokemon as well, who accepted it more than graciously. Gengar had been the only one to refuse the food, insisting that he physically couldn't eat it, not that he needed to. Misty looked at Ash's Ivysaur again as he fed him a strip of the Tauros meat.  
"Ash, if you had an Ivysaur, why didn't you use him in the fight before?" she asked.  
"Look closer at him," Ash said. Misty got up and walked around the small plant pokemon, examining it. As she got to its other side, however, she immediately saw what was the problem.  
"He lost that leg a few years ago, in a fight with a Raticate, one of Mewtwo's captains. The damn rat was so pumped fool of Poison Powder that it dropped dead a few seconds later, but Ivysaur's never been the same. He's lost his will to fight, and sometimes I think he's lost his will to live, too," Ash said as he patted Ivysaur's head. Ivysaur looked up at Misty, and she could almost feel tears coming on when she saw the pain in his eyes.  
"Can he talk?" Jigglypuff asked.  
"I don't know. He might be able to, but he hasn't said so much as 'Ivysaur' since that fight," Ash answered, stroking Ivysaur's head. There was silence for a few moments.  
"That's so sad," Misty said quietly, barely above a whisper.  
Rich looked around at the despondent faces, and quickly changed the subject.  
"I think some sleep would do us all some good," he offered as he got up from his seat on one of the rotten logs.  
"I think so too, but I suddenly don't feel very safe here anymore," Jigglypuff answered, looking around the clearing. It was getting hard to see as the sun went down further and further, and the jungle was becoming a very eerie place.  
"You should have had your guard up this whole time. As I said, we are in as much danger during the day as we are at night," Gengar reminded them. "I will stand guard while you rest. Those of my kind never sleep"  
"Never?" Rich asked, curious.  
"Never, unless some outside force drives us to. As with food, slumber is only a method of regenerating the body's energy. Those of my kind have learned to tap into far deeper, more reliable sources of energy," Gengar answered cryptically. "There is no possible way you could understand, so do not even bother to ask." That being said, the Ghost flew off to begin his patrol.  
"What an odd pokemon," Rich commented.  
"Yeah, but odd or not, he's the strongest thing we have going for us right now," Jigglypuff said. "And I for one am going to want him on our side if Charizard comes around again"  
"Now that you bring that up," Ash said as he thought back to that volcano with legs. "Misty, did you think that Charizard was at all...you know...familiar"  
Misty thought for a second. "Now that you mention it, I do think I've seen him before. I can't even begin to think of where it might have been, though; if only I had a soldier for each time I've seen a Charizard during my life, I'd have an army to beat Mewtwo's"  
"Try not to think about it. One time, before the Psy War, I forgot what the third form of an Oddish was, and I couldn't sleep for three whole days trying to remember it was," Rich said, apparently unaware of the bewildered looks he had attracted, looks that seemed to ask the appropriate question, 'Why did you bring that up.  
"Um...he's right, we should try not to think about it. Even if we could remember where we saw that Charizard before, what difference would it make?" Misty said.  
"Yeah, I guess so," Ash said. "We should get some sleep. Its going to be a long day tomorrow"  
"Need any help, Gengar?" Rich called over to the Ghost. He didn't seem to hear him, and if Rich didn't know any better, he'd say he was having a conversation with someone else. But, being as tired as he was, Rich didn't care to look into the matter any further, instead unrolling his sleeping bag onto the dry dirt. The other two humans did the same, with all the pokemon recalled to their respective pokeballs except Togepi and, of course, Jigglypuff and Gengar. Togepi had her own miniature sleeping bag which she crawled into and . Jigglypuff was trying to build up a makeshift bed of leaves to sleep on, but was finding the task to be rather difficult since few trees in the Safari Zone were deciduous. Rich turned his head to the singing pokemon as he climbed into his own sleeping bag, sympathy weighing down his heart as he watched Jigglypuff sigh and lay down on his leaves.  
"Don't you have anywhere to sleep?" he asked.  
"I've slept on the ground enough times to get used to it," Jigglypuff answered half-heartedly.  
"Hey, my sleeping bag's big enough for two. If you wanted, you could hop in, too," Rich offered.  
Jigglypuff looked at Rich with a curious shock. Rich was offering to share something of his with him, willing to divide something so that while he got less, Jigglypuff would benefit. He didn't say it out loud, but that was probably the kindest thing anyone had ever done for him.  
"I...I'm fine. Thanks," Jigglypuff answered, unsure how to handle this unexpected kindness. Rich gave a frustrated sigh.  
"Alright, as the only living thing to ever hear your whole song, I ORDER you to share my sleeping bag," Rich said in a more authoritative voice. Jigglypuff couldn't think of anything more to say, and he had thought the sleeping bag did look comfortable. Finally, the pink puff gave in to himself and joined Rich in his sleeping bag. Jigglypuff fell asleep in a matter of seconds, glad to be sleeping in something better than the ground for once. Rich turned toward the others to see if they were alright, but more importantly to see if Ash and Misty had done anything...interesting yet. Nothing seemed to be going on between them, unfortunately. Rich fidgeted in his sleeping bag, trying not to notice the pudgy pink pokemon sleeping next to him. This thing really isn't designed for two, he thought, but if we can't share what's ours with our own friends, then we're no better than Mewtwo. With that thought, he fell asleep.  
Meanwhile, Misty lying on her back in her sleeping bag, staring up at the stars. In the world those days, the stars shone perfectly, unobstructed by now-  
nonexistent city lights. That was probably the only good thing that Mewtwo's rule had brought about, and while it was nothing compared to all the suffering and destruction that had come as its price, the celestial display was still undeniably beautiful.  
She heard fidgeting next to her, and saw Ash lying on his back in his sleeping bag as well. He was awake, looking up at the stars just like she had been.  
"Hey," Misty whispered to get his attention. He looked over at her. "Can't sleep"  
"Nope," he answered. "I have too much going through my head. Mewtwo, Sabrina, Hellshriek, Cinnabar, you." Oops, had he said that last part out loud?  
Misty giggled. "Maybe if you had some company, you'd be able to sleep better"  
Ash cocked an eyebrow at her, then smiled devilishly. "Maybe"  
With that, the conversation was over. Misty crawled out of her sleeping bag and slid into Ash's with him. They kissed deeply, their arms around each other. Rather than explore the further areas of their relationship, the two fell asleep in each other's arms in a matter of moments. Ash's sleeping bag wasn't designed for two, either, but when the two occupants slept as close together as they did, it made no difference.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the edge of camp, Gengar was beginning his guard shift. If Rich had investigated any further, he would have found that Gengar was, in fact, having a conversation with someone.  
"So, how are the plans going up by you?" he asked through a small tear in space, through which he saw a Haunter at the edge of Saffron City. It was like a supernatural TV phone.  
"As well as they might. I can scarcely believe how lazy these physical creatures are, though; only one day of marching and they already have to stop and rest. It is truly unbelievable," the Haunter complained.  
"Yes, I have the same problem with my group. I suppose we should feel lucky that we became Ghosts and no longer have to deal with that," Gengar answered. "Any other news I should know"  
"Nothing of interest. Four of the Ghosts that were defeated in the battle have re-spawned at the Tower, so far, but that does not affect you right now," Haunter said.  
"Very well. I am afraid I must go now; I have guard duty over our camp. Goodbye, for now," Gengar said as their communication link ended and the tear vanished. Gengar immediately set out patrolling the camp, probing the surrounding area for any unusual presence.

* * *

Unknown to the Ghost, however, he was already being carefully watched by two such presences. Gengar's telepathic probing passed over the two several times, but thanks to the Psychic shield covering both of them, the Ghost didn't sense a thing out of the ordinary.  
"What do you sense?" one of them asked.  
"We are having difficulty sensing anything other than the Gengar. We assume that the others of their party have Psychic Inhibitors," the other answered, referring to itself in the plural.  
"I saw tracks before, leading near the trap. They had three humans among them, and at least one pokemon other than the Ghost," the first one explained. "Either they all have Inhibitors, or they're all close enough to each other to share the effect"  
"Whatever the case, we think it is safe to assume that the rest of their party is asleep. Ghosts need not sleep, so he may be merely guarding their camp," the other said.  
"Great, let's go then. Go for the Gengar first; you're the only one who can," the first one instructed as he climbed the tree next to him and gave signal to his other troops throughout the Safari Zone.

* * *

Gengar turned his head as he heard a loud, piercing cry emanate through the woods. He was about to go investigate when he recognized the sound as the cry of a Fearow. Then it suddenly occurred to him that there were no Fearows in the Safari Zone.  
He had no more time to think the situation over when he was presented with an even more urgent one. This situation came in the form of a white and green blast of Psychic energy that shot out of the bushes and straight for Gengar. The Ghost quickly leapt into the air, leaving the blast to pass harmlessly underneath him, fizzling rather than detonating as it hit a tree. Gengar noticed this, and realized that whatever was attacking him knew that Ash and the others were asleep, and wanted to keep them that way. That would leave them open for ambush.  
"We are under attack!" Gengar shouted to the others.

Rich and Jigglypuff were up like a flash, Rich with his machete and Jigglypuff with his knife.  
"What's going on, I don't see any--ah!" Rich yelled as a large wooden boomerang struck him on the head. "Rich!" Jigglypuff shouted in alarm as his friend fell to the ground. By this time, Ash, Misty, Psyduck, and Togepi were out as well, standing in a circle with their backs to each other. Jigglypuff stayed with Rich, shaking him to wake up, when a small dart flew out of the bushes and into Jigglypuff. The chemicals inside weren't toxic, but caused Jigglypuff to fall asleep instantly.  
"Who's out there?! Show yourself!" Ash ordered. Whoever was out there seemed to listen to him, as the four of them suddenly saw that they were completely surrounded by a number of large, shadowy shapes. They rushed in, and the last thing Ash felt was something like an anvil slam into his stomach. Misty didn't last much longer, struck by the same thing Ash was, and Togepi was hit with one of the same darts that Jigglypuff had been hit with. Psyduck tried to retreat and regroup, but as he lifted over the crowd of figures, he was struck unconscious with a wooden boomerang...

Gengar had seen all of this unfold, and was about to rush out to help his allies when a barrage of Psychic blasts reminded him that he had his own problems to deal with first. The blasts stopped for a moment, and as Gengar followed the path of the attacks to their origin, his attacker revealed itself.  
It was unlike anything Gengar had ever seen before, and that was saying a good deal given the Ghost's long life. It had a thin, spindly white body, with equally thin white arms and legs. Its head was the shape of an egg, and had absolutely no features: no hair, no eyes, no mouth, nothing. It was surrounded by a host of creatures that looked exactly like Eggsecutes, only their shells were not cracked, which floated in the space around the central creature like motionless electrons around an atom.  
The thing suddenly spoke, its voice sounding strange and echoed since it did not come from the body of the thing at all, but from each of the surrounding eggs.  
"We are the Eggsecutioner"


End file.
